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Straightening Antique Plywood

RedRivet's picture

Straightening Antique Plywood (post #169279)

RedRivet on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 11:04
in

Hello all,


I have an old and battered, painted, childs desk from the 1940s which has been handed down to me. Its not up to much but has sentimental value. The lid is painted plywood and badly warped. Ideally I would like to strip it and straighten it but I guess the hard part (if even possible) will be to straighten the lid.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

RedRivet

-A +A
roc's picture

I don't know so don't take my advice straight up but . . . (post #169279, reply #1 of 2)

by roc in reply to RedRivet [original] on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 12:11

 Sounds to me like one direction to explore further in your research would be to :

Find a box of some sort like an oven ( I  have made such a box from plywood, foam insulation covered with heavy foil and heated with heat lamps with a reostate to maintain temp and a cheep oven thermometer sticking through the side ) .  Heated to around   200 ° F to bake painted metal parts.

Make up a metal sturcture (or wood ? ) that could hold the top flat with cauls etc.

Heat the whole mess up to about 200 ° F for an hour or so.

Let cool completely.

Remove the sturcture.

ANY BODY KNOW IF THE GLUE USED IN PLYWOOD BACK THEN AND BE " REACTIVEATED " / SOFTENED WITH HEAT ?

Will the glue reset or just break down ?

Heck if I know.

roc

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )

Westchester's picture

Warped (post #169279, reply #2 of 2)

by Westchester in reply to roc [original] on Mon, 10/31/2011 - 15:09

It may be possible to make kerf cuts underneath the lid -

SA