Do you know how to straighten wood?

RoundEye · Post by **RoundEye** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:07 pm

OK y'all these kitchen cabinet doors are killing me!

I took them off, routed the corners to make them round, filled the holes from the old hinges and put on new hinges

....and now....

The damn things are warped. I guess they have been off the cabinets too long. I tried stacking them and putting a small tool box and two cranks from motobikes, on top of them for about a week, but they just spung back to the warped shape now.

This sucks, they look like crap. They are made from plywood and are about three feet high and about a foot wide.

Any ideas?

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:10 pm

Steam them prior to stacking and weighting

cybotron r_9 · Post by **cybotron r_9** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:11 pm

Do you know how to straighten wood?

Just get in the Chat room with Meggie....that should do it.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:11 pm

Originally posted by Chris
Steam them prior to stacking and weighting

This from a guy who taak half of his hand off with a router yesterday, and let me tell ya, it friggin hurts like a MOFO

Norm · Post by **Norm** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:13 pm

Steam them, and put them under pressure until they cool down.

But for something the size of a cabinet door that may not be an easy task.

edit - I'm getting slow.

RoundEye · Post by **RoundEye** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:13 pm

How can I steam them? I have ten doors and six are rather large.

I wonder if I could screw them shut, and steam up my kitchen by boiling some water and running the hot water for a while.

RoundEye · Post by **RoundEye** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:15 pm

Originally posted by cybotron r_9
Just get in the Chat room with Meggie....that should do it.

Now that I think about the title..........

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:16 pm

bath tub, put stringers ver the tub sides and fill tub with as hot as you can water, close shower curtain and add boiling water for 15 or twenty min then weight down quick

sito · Post by **sito** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:16 pm

Originally posted by Chris
Steam them prior to stacking and weighting

Glad to here you still have your thumb Chris. And there's no shame in getting the odd nick taken out of ya from power tools.

It's not like you were in the kitchen cutting tomatoes when it happened.

Wet wood and weight.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:17 pm

Originally posted by Chris
bath tub, put stringers ver the tub sides and fill tub with as hot as you can water, close shower curtain and add boiling water for 15 or twenty min then weight down quick

oh, and add some vinegar to the water

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:18 pm

Originally posted by sitosterol

Glad to here you still have your thumb Chris. And there's no shame in getting the odd nick taken out of ya from power tools.

took half the pad off the palm, frigg the beer and ice aint touching it, but real men don't cry, and i'm tryin my damness

sito · Post by **sito** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:19 pm

Clamps and plywood would work well if available.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:20 pm

Originally posted by sitosterol

Wet wood and weight.

i find if you acctually wet the wood it warps worse, steam is not so abrupt to the wood

sito · Post by **sito** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:20 pm

Originally posted by Chris
took half the pad off the palm, frigg the beer and ice aint touching it, but real men don't cry, and i'm tryin my damness

That a boy!

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:23 pm

Originally posted by sitosterol
That a boy!

no thats man.......

Splash says i have a sad puppy face though.
And this typing by finger lefty handed is killin me.......lol

sito · Post by **sito** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:25 pm

Originally posted by Chris
i find if you acctually wet the wood it warps worse, steam is not so abrupt to the wood

Thats where the plywood comes in. It will help get rid of the water as it dries and adds a more uniform weight without damage.

Steam is what I was thinking by wet, but to wet it won't hurt depending on the wood and whether or not it's finished.

I'm assuming it's finished already

sito · Post by **sito** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:27 pm

Originally posted by Chris
no thats man.......

Splash says i have a sad puppy face though.
And this typing by finger lefty handed is killin me.......lol

lol

RoundEye · Post by **RoundEye** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:54 pm

Chris I forgot about your hand, hope everything turns out fine for you.

The wood is painted, except for along the edges where I routed it.

Here's what I'm thinking about doing before humidifying the wood in the shower. I just finished rebuiding the whole inside of the shower/tub. I even added a $200 set of sliding glass doors. The last thing I need to do is break one of those damn doors or scratch the inside of the shower walls right now.

I'm going to screw the doors to the cabinets then use blocks of wood to hold them flat. then I'm going to boil some water and put it in the sink, (the cabinets are above the sink). Then I can get them warm with an industrial heat gun, not enough to burn the paint. Hopefully by the time I finish the sheet rock the doors will be straight.

Sounds crazy, but it's better them pulling them down right now, and I would really hate to screw up the tub that I'm already finished with.

Remember I'm more Tim Allen then Bob Villa.

fastchevy · Post by **fastchevy** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:59 pm

Originally posted by RoundEye
Remember I'm more Tim Allen then Bob Villa.

When it comes to carpentry...me too. My wife likes to watch me work do carpentry work..kinda like her own little comedy club

Oh well..I'm getting better.

She will have a great ol' time soon when I replace a majority of our downstairs sheetrock to run network cable and new electric lines.

I may run the webcam so SG can have a few laughs.

poptom · Post by **poptom** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 7:06 pm

If they're twisted, I think it's a lost cause unless you can mount them with the latch near the protruding corner.

When they're bowed, I get the concave side good and wet and suspend them between sawhorses out in the sun with bricks or concrete blocks in the center. Could take a day or a week.

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 7:10 pm

get them wet (soak em) clamp them/ dry em / REstain em.

u may be able to use/rent a steamer used for removing wallpaper

when drying them put them convex ^ side up as they dry they shuld curl up.

goodluck purple monkey

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 7:27 pm

What I ahve done in the past is this.

Get a 55 gallon drum as a burning barrel. Start a small fire in the bottom and put a large pot of water about half way inside the barrel. I drobe rebar through the side to form a platform to hold the large pot of water. Clamp the doors in jig to straighten them. Let the fire burn all night and keep the pot full of water. This will steam the boards and should take the warp out. The 55 gallon barrel shoud allow you to steam a large piece of wood.

I've made quite a few different hand rail for old stair cases using this technique.

TonyT · Post by **TonyT** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 8:06 pm

They are made from plywood and are about three feet high and about a foot wide

Use 1 x X lumber and make frame on inside of doors.

Plywood cabinet doors? Are they homemade el cheapo doors? Why not just make standard doors w/ frames?

All plywood doors without a frame will always warp. That is for certain. Plywood is not made for cabinet doors. It is made to be fastened on all sides, thus a frame w/ plywood would work.

RoundEye · Post by **RoundEye** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:26 pm

Originally posted by TonyT
Use 1 x X lumber and make frame on inside of doors.

Plywood cabinet doors? Are they homemade el cheapo doors? Why not just make standard doors w/ frames?

All plywood doors without a frame will always warp. That is for certain. Plywood is not made for cabinet doors. It is made to be fastened on all sides, thus a frame w/ plywood would work.

It actually looks like two pieces of plywood. One for the outside door and a piece about a half inch smaller glued to the inside. The rest of the cabinets are made of hardwood. The actually look a little straighter today since they have been on the cabinet overnight.

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:34 pm

I would get new plywood and frame in the perimters or malimine with edge banding* note mortise or biscut the corners if you goe ply again *

you can buy just prehung doors too

malimine would be cheapest

Zuma · Post by **Zuma** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:54 pm

Sorry to crap on Randy, but Melamine is garbage, true it is cheap and that's cause it's pressboard.

Tony has the right idea but that is alot of work. (the raised panel look)

You might be able to steam them and counterbend (not too much tho) to take out most of the warp, but I have only seen this work on a limited basis. Steaming plywood is not a usual practice unless you are in high end stuff, ie; staircases and such.

Why not just buy new ply and cut new ones?

EvilAjax · Post by **EvilAjax** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:57 pm

Originally posted by cybotron r_9
Just get in the Chat room with Meggie....that should do it.

lmao

WhoNut · Post by **WhoNut** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 10:00 pm

Originally posted by Zuma
Why not just buy new ply and cut new ones?

That's what I'd probably do. You can get paint grade ply for a decent price. You may want to consider leaving some of the doors off as well. The cabinets that house your dishes, pots and pans, etc. may look good without any doors.

Take a little time to hide all of the holes where the hinges were screwed in. I think it's a nice look in some kitchens.

RoundEye · Post by **RoundEye** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 10:20 pm

Building new ones sounds easy, but I don't have a table saw and cutting wood that length with a circular saw would be hard.

Plus I have four rooms to do and I'm adding a new room to the house. I need to watch what money I spend.

downhill · Post by **downhill** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 10:27 pm

Originally posted by RoundEye
Building new ones sounds easy, but I don't have a table saw and cutting wood that length with a circular saw would be hard.

Plus I have four rooms to do and I'm adding a new room to the house. I need to watch what money I spend.

Looking at your pic...did you only paint one side of a stained piece of plywood? If so.....that may have caused it.

RoundEye...it's pretty easy to make a straight ege for cutting plywood......

http://members.aol.com/woodmiser1/sawbd.htm

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 12:06 am

Originally posted by Zuma
Sorry to crap on Randy, but Melamine is garbage

your not crapping on me or are you? I thought you were crapping on melamine. Do you even know what you are talking about?

melamine is not all that bad considering the price considering that roundeye is looking to restore his already painted plywood crappy cabinets i think melamine may be a way to go here is a peek at what we gave grampa.

a cheap and nice looking way to go.

Zuma speak your crap about melamine but dont say you crapped on me.

Zuma · Post by **Zuma** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 8:46 am

Randy, YGPM

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 11:12 am

Do you know how to straighten wood?