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Warped boards from my own glue-up still haunt me
I was in my basement shop last February working on a leather-bound journal cover. I glued up a stack of 1/8 inch birch ply without letting the glue dry evenly on both sides. Three days later the whole thing bowed like a banana and I had to scrap $40 worth of material. Instead of starting over right away, I clamped it between two flat iron bars for a week and it flattened out about 80 percent. I ended up finishing the journal with a thicker spine piece to hide the slight curve. Has anyone else saved a warped board after a bad glue job?
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charles_coleman2d ago
Oh man that scrap cost really does sting the worst. I started keeping all my failed stuff in a bin now for clamps and test pieces so at least the money doesn't feel totally wasted.
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kellygrant2d ago
Man my buddy tried that iron bar trick and his board still ended up looking like a potato chip.
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emery102d ago
You glued up 1/8 inch birch ply? That stuff warps if you look at it wrong. I had a similar thing happen with a box I was making, I rushed the glue on some walnut strips and the lid ended up with a wicked twist. I stacked it under a cinder block and a bunch of old textbooks for two weeks, and it came out pretty straight but I still had to add some shims to the hinges. The scrap cost hurts the most, right? I ended up using that bowed piece for a jig later, so it wasn't a total loss.
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