Re-Flattening a Warped Countertop
A beautiful wood countertop warped after it was finished on one side only, then stored for years. This discussion is about making it flat again by kerfing the underside and clamping the piece. September 16, 2008
Question
I finally had one of those finishing blunders. In the summer of 2006 I built a beautiful countertop for the stool section of a kitchen's island. It was quartersawn white oak, 2 feet wide, 6 foot leg with a 90 degree miter with another 4 foot leg. I dye stained it to look like an old antique, and then grain filled it and toned it with a coat of shellac. I sprayed 6 coats of precat waterborne clear. This is a thing of beauty.
The big blunder came when I forgot to seal the bottom with a couple of coats of shellac. I was under the gun and 100% focus on nailing this countertop finish. It was supposed to be appropriately screwed down to the cabinets and furniture legs. However, this is one of those contractor build-it-yourself and take four years to complete it situations.
The countertop has been in storage for a couple of years. I moved it several times in the first year. There was no noticeable cupping. Now it has cupped about 3/8" in 24". The finish and 30" miter are still in mint condition (a miracle to say the least). I really want to try to save this piece.
The counter is 3/4" thick with a 1/2" perimeter buildup. I've already purchased some robust steel angle iron and plan over the next couple of weeks to try to mechanically force it back to flatness. Then I plan to hit the bottom with a couple coats of epoxy to balance the two sides. All I can remember is being severely sleep deprived with our 4 month-old super colicky baby at that point in history. It is just about the dumbest move I've made in years. Any hope for repair?
Forum Responses
(Finishing Forum)
From contributor A:
How about some stress relieving saw cuts on the bottom of the countertop? Dry fit it. Undo it and apply a load of finish to the bottom of the countertop and then reattach it.
From the original questioner:
That is a great suggestion. I hadn't even thought of kerfing. What did you mean by dry fitting? I assume you mean kerf it - bend the countertop back till it's straight using clamps and my steel cauls, then fill the kerfs with epoxy.
From contributor A:
Yes, all of the above.
From contributor B:
Wouldn't filling the kerfs with epoxy be a waste of time and money? Why not just spray them full of sealer. Be sure to leave some unkerfed areas into which you can get some good screws into if you need to resort to the steel.
From contributor C:
Which way did it cup? I have straightened out joined assemblies by dampening one side, slightly at first, and then letting it dry.
From contributor D:
I had a door cut from a $2500 piece of laid up veneer plywood cup on me overnight when the weather suddenly changed. Here is what I learned from that most wonderful experience. The reason that it cupped is that the veneer on one side was a different grade and therefore more porous and also thicker than on the other side. When the weather changed, one side apparently picked up moisture more quickly than the other and drying it out didn't bring it back. I am telling you this because sometimes what seems to make the most sense is really the opposite of what you want to do. For example, I am not saying that I am correct on this issue but when you kerf one side you are increasing the surface area of the wood much more than on the unkerfed side. When the moisture gets into the wood it has more area to expand than on the other side thereby making it cup more dramatically (the finished side being the concave).
I have used different methods on different situations with a variety of results, mostly good. One way was to build a form that is arched evenly over the same width of the piece you are trying to correct so that when you clamp the piece to it, it over-bends it. I have tried placing stickers under and clamping the edges of the piece but it tends to bend only where the sticker is. The form gives a more uniform pressure over the whole piece, if that makes sense. If you have access to a vacuum bag clamping system this is the easiest way to go; if not then a lot of clamps with boards under to even out the pressure. Don't put it onto full pressure all at once. Give it a little more each day or so. Once you relieve the pressure it should be curved a little too much in the other direction. Usually within a day or so it will move back some. If it goes back too much, then it goes back into the clamps. Too much pressure too soon will sometimes snap the piece in half and you usually find it on the morning of the day you were planning to remove the clamps. There is a certain feel to the process.
As you probably know if you bend a board (or almost any material for that matter) it will bend easily for a bit then get more difficult at a point. If you get it to that point or just before it, the tension will be relieved with time and you can then "push" it further to the new tension point. Think of it like a muscle that you are stretching. Being a mechanic as well I have learned to feel the point where a bolt hits that same state. You always want to end up a little shy of that point. If it is to be attached to a subsurface then you will probably be ok if you put enough fasteners in it and the surface is rigid enough.
One school of thought is that one should never completely seal a piece so it has the ability to breathe and take in and expel moisture as needed once it is fastened in place. The rationale is that there are very few sealers that will not allow moisture through at a very slow rate. It is much harder for the moisture to find "escape routes" than entry routes. This has to do with osmosis to some extent. The same theory comes into play with attic spaces without enough ventilation and wall insulation sheets that don't breathe.
I always like to put one light coat of sealer on the bottom side but not so thick that the moisture cannot vent through it. It helps the wood not pick up the moisture quite as fast if there are sudden changes in humidity. I wish I could say I was 100% certain about all this but from what my experience has taught me, I would say it is true.
From the original questioner:
If one was to kerf the back of a table top and then simply seal it with shellac or the like, it would definitely warp more. The idea of kerfing, bending, and glue/filling with epoxy is common method of bending surfaces (curved cabinetry, curved stair risers). If a table top has 6 coats of finish on the top and nothing on the bottom (much like a laminate countertop with no backer) and one was going to wet the backside it should cup more towards the film finish side. Correct?
From contributor D:
Yes, you are correct on both counts except that you have to remember that plastic expands and contracts faster than most woods. If you fill the kerfs with a substantial amount of epoxy it will expand more than the wood when it gets warmer thereby putting increased pressure on the underside which is what you have going on now. My guess is that you would go from the pot back into the pot and avoid the frying pan altogether. The theory on most kerf bending is that eventually another layer will be adhered to the kerfed side to hold it stable. Most curved things are curved so when the wood moves you don't notice it like on a flat surface. My suggestion is to try to work with what you have now and try to get it to spring back without more alteration. I am not suggesting that the other methods will not work but that there is a significant chance that you will be creating an even more unfortunate situation. Also remember that kerfing solid wood like oak leaves the wood a place to crack as you normally have to cut most of the way through to get it to move.
Please let me know what you eventually use and how it works. I am always looking for new methods to put into use. I am pretty sure that you will have luck just springing it back as it is only 4/4 material. I just had another thought which is that you could laminate another piece of white oak on the underside to the full thickness of the top if that is an option. I would spring it back first and then try to get the new board's grain pattern to go opposite of the original so they want to pull away from each other if they pick up moisture. This way they counter each other out. Use the same species and a similar grain pattern to do this.
From contributor B:
If you kerf the back then you have "Kerf-core" and you could do whatever you want with it unless it is the veneer which is cracked, in which case I would just start over.
From the original questioner:
I dove into the deep end this afternoon. I cut 5/16 deep kerfs(3/32") every 3/4" in width. It still takes a decent amount of force to bend it straight. That's exactly what I had hoped. My plan is to go ahead and fill the kerfs with epoxy. If I can get the top flat with this method, I believe it will stay relatively flat after I secure it to the island.
From contributor E:
I have run into this situation a couple of times and I glued thin strips of wood into the kerf. I tapered the wood slightly to fit the profile of the kerf after the top was flattened to eliminate spring back. After everything was dry I sealed the surface. This method insured that any future seasonal expansion/contraction would not be conflicted because of a difference of materials.
From contributor F:
I'm on board with Contributor E on this except I would fill the kerfs with basswood using liquid hide glue. This will allow for future expansion and contraction without adding any stress to the original because the basswood is softer and expands and contracts easily. Then seal the surface well.
From contributor D:
I am finding this thread very interesting and I would really like to know if what you did works in the long run. I am sure we all will forget about this in a couple of weeks but if you have any issues at all with this method please let us know as I am always looking for other solutions to hair-pulling problems.
