Posted By Paul Bingham on 19 May 2010 05:29 PM
Hi Joe,
We got a job to engrave the logo of a Canadian brewing company ( a Stag Head, as in looks like a deer) into the tops of bar tables the other day. The tables are pine and have been in use in two bars for several years. The tops were coated with a heavy bar top plastic finish. The bottoms have no finish.
The tops arrived at the shop today and guess what? Up to a 1/2" warp across a 30" wide top. It's up on the edges and down in the middle as would be expected with differential moisture uptake on the bottoms. The bottom expands more than the top does creating the warp. We need to flatten the tables before CNC cutting begins. The top finish has been removed and we will mist water onto the tops over a few days to expand the top surfaces and flatten them before continuing. After cutting the tops will be finished equally on both sides.
Just a typical day to day example in the real world of woodworking versus the academic world of teaching.
Paul
Paul, We've done the same thing by misting water on the wood with the concave side up and placing quartz lights under the tops towards the convex side the heat will help speed things up and flatten within a day.
Steve