warping of wood structures

[Anonymous]

How to i prevent the components of wood structures from warping after i have applied an ink stain with denatured alcohol? I was working on a kit and stained both sides and had placed a heavy object on it over night. I thought it was fine when it had dried but when i removed the heavy object the two pieces significantly warped. Is there a way for me to straigthened them out? and secondly am i applying too much stain at one time?
thanks
Mike

[brianel027]

When I have scratchbuilt things either out of wood, cardstock material or styrene, I always like to brace the walls with 1/4 inch basswood. Over time, especially in a humid area, some warping is almost bound to happen. But I find having a secure frame work with something like basswood or square aluminum channels (available at some hobby shops) definetly helps.

I've had some of the newer Plasticville buildings come warped right out of the box. Again, I brace the warped pieces with basswood and this helps.

[waltrapp]

Mike,

I too have fought that battle. I've resorted to sealing the wood first then painting. I haven't tested whether the India-ink staining trick would work once the wood had a coat of sealer put on it. I seal both sides to help prevent the warping.

A pain for sure. But if you want the LOOK of wood, well, nothing says wood better than wood!!

- walt

[Anonymous]

Mike,
It sound like you are using too much solution at one time. If the alcohol is applied too heavily, it will absorb water from the air due to it's affinity for water and leave the wood basically wet, especially if you are doing this someplace where it is damp. i dont know if I would do both sides of something at the same time either.
Many light coats with complete drying between works well. Also note: The thinner the wood, the easier it is to put on too much at once. One other thing, I never weathered anything that was not assembled first. By assembling the project first, you have the advantage of all of the pieces being locked in position by either glue or fastners thus minimizing any tendency for the wood to warp. It is much harder to warp a box than a flat panel.

blabree11

[dlagrua]

I scratch build quite a bit and resort to the bracing technique mentioned above. I use 1/4 " basswood glued in all corners along the edges and across the center of the bottom. I also paint the insides of my structures so that moisture is repelled and seal the exterior with Krylon matt clear coating. While there is no solution against warping, you can minimize the effect with these techniques..

[Anonymous]

when i "stickbuild" my structures (like in real life), warpage is not a problem because no piece is large enough to dominate.

the last time i used scribed wood for siding, the thing did take off in several directions, and broke my heart. i dried it for a week and glued it to a sound base for structural integrity. then when it was about as good as it was going to get; i sealed it with a couple coats of glosscote. so far, so good.

the bracing advice above will help you a lot.

[trigtrax]

Wood warp is described by three types, cup, bow and wind. Cup is curve across the grain. Bow is curve with the grain, and wind is a cup with twist along the grain so that the wood rocks on two opposite corners when placed on a flat surface. Some warpage is caused by the environment when one side of a board can absorb (or lose) more moisture than the other. Some is caused when an improperly dried board is milled to finish size before it's time.
Assuming for Hobby work you're using very thin wood placing a weight and sandwiching the pieces on a table left no where for the moisture to go except out the uncovered edge.
If you ever watch the operation of an air dryed lumber mill the boards are stacked with stringers cross wise between the layers to allow air to circulate and dry the wood all around. The same is done in a drying kiln.

[palallin]

I use stains made up of enamels and thinners. They seal the wood well and seem to stabilize it. One coaling tower I built with strip wood in the mid-'80s survives today with no warpage, and it has been stored in many uncontrolled environments for most of that time.