Wood thickness stability

[Mike Bolles]

Hi everyone, this may be a self evident question, but I want the experience of others. When using either a good baltic birch ply or a hardwood ordered from a good source, when you get down to 1/8" is the wood usually stable or is there a lot of warpage? If so, is it worth the effort? Thanks.

Mike

[kmmcrafts]

My experience when I was using wood instead of plywood the thin boards were more prone to warping / cupping. Plywood can warp too but much more stable and usually not as bad of warping. 
 

Thicker stock also will warp too. They say to look at how tight the grain lines are. If the grain lines are tight together not as much warping as if they are farther apart. So if you’re able to go in person to a lumber store and pick through the boards look for the tighter grain stuff. 
 

I am no expert here just saying what I’ve experienced and there are many more people who are more experienced in this than I am. 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Plywood such as BB will not warp as much but will warp. Just as all wood will.  Wood is alive and will move. Now what things depend on is  what type project you are talking about. Is it a scrolled photo that has a frame that supports the edges so then less warpage. Is it a project that has alot of fret work then less warpage. Is it a project that has a backer board than less warpage. So no definitive answer is possible except that wood moves and will warp. Being that thin more chances of it happening. 

[Roberta Moreton]

I had a piece of 1/8” plywood warp. It was about 10 X 18”.  I got it wet, layer it on some towels and weighted it down by putting heavy stuff on it.  The next day it was fine.  I cut my backer out of it.  Painted it and glued it to my project.  The next morning it had popped off of the plaque I had glued it to and the plaque broke in the process. So, can it warp? Yes! Can you fight it? Well, you can try!

[Wichman]

1 hour ago, Roberta Moreton said:

I had a piece of 1/8” plywood warp. It was about 10 X 18”.  I got it wet, layer it on some towels and weighted it down by putting heavy stuff on it.  The next day it was fine.  I cut my backer out of it.  Painted it and glued it to my project.  The next morning it had popped off of the plaque I had glued it to and the plaque broke in the process. So, can it warp? Yes! Can you fight it? Well, you can try!

What type of glue did you use? Did you weight the piece down or use clamps?

[Wichman]

5 hours ago, Mike Bolles said:

Hi everyone, this may be a self evident question, but I want the experience of others. When using either a good baltic birch ply or a hardwood ordered from a good source, when you get down to 1/8" is the wood usually stable or is there a lot of warpage? If so, is it worth the effort? Thanks.

Mike

If you cut and then waterproof flat stock it will significantly improve the odds of the piece staying flat. That being said, the type of wood ( flat sawn, rift sawn, quarter sawn, etc. ) or plywood, how it was processed, and how it is/was stored all play a factor into how stable the wood is and will continue to be.

The following picture is of a pair of overlays for a project I did some 20 years ago. The base broke and I saved the overlays to use in a future project. The overlays are made from some inexpensive 1/8 plywood and have been unsupported for most of the time. I have not used any special methods to keep them flat but they remain flat and ready to be used in the future project.

Edited Friday at 05:52 PM by Wichman
Additional information

[DrPete]

I bought a nice oak piece from Home Depot, it was inexpensive. LOL not now, it's close to firewood.

6" wide X 48"

Before I could start my project the wood sat in my garage laying flat on the workbench for a couple of days.

It had cupped into a nice C

So being the smart person I knew that one side had gotten drier than the other. I lightly sprayed it down on the one side and put it down on the workbench again with weights.

The next day I had my flat board back.

2 days later before I could start my project my hard work making it flat was back to a nice C

I gave up and used some 3/4" walnut for the project.

An exercise in futility!

 

[preprius]

I order 1/8" wood from cherokee for all my cowboy hat brims.  I butt glue 6" x24" together to make 18" x 24" then cut the flat brims.   I ordered canarywood thinking some one would order a hat.   I had the 3 planks sitting flat in my shelves on garage for 3 yrs NOT glued. It did cup a little bit.   It did split a little bit. I used it 3 months ago and I struggled to get a good butt glue joint.  

1/8" wood is not available in big widths.  To butt joining them is interesting.   

I glue sandpaper to a known 90 deg surface. I have a flat quartz top to lay the 1/8" slat on.  Then slide the 1/8" board back and forth against the 90 sandpaper,  to make nice square edges.  I use a needle glue applicator to one of the boards. Then I push boards together and add weights to hold both sides. This also keeps the slats flat on the quartz top.

Too much glue will squeeze out causing more sanding later.  Dont starve the joint but dont over glue it either.

Problem with canarywood was solved by buying a new bottle of glue and ordering 3 more slats of canarywood.   I think it was the old titebond 3 bottle of glue that was the cause. 

But I will only order 1/8" thick wood when I will use it within a week.  Cherokee wraps it up so it won't absorb moisture.  I did not store the canarywood wrapped up.  

Other woods I have ordered 1/8"....

black walnut, maple, canarywood, red oak, padauk. 

Only 1 customer wanted a flat brim "red oak".  Once the flat brim had protective finish on it it stayed flat.  All other brims were purposely curved to about 35.  degrees. 

Make sure the edges are sealed with protective finish.

Me.

Mark Eason

Edited Friday at 07:03 PM by preprius

[preprius]

ok 1 other note.

Black walnut hat brim.  I purposely wore the curved brim in the rain several times.  The curved brim went flat.  Yikes....  Do I have to rebend the brim after it has been sealed????

So I just put it in the house on my desk.  The next day it was back to the proper bent angle.   I did not have to do anything. 

Me.

Mark Eason

[Roberta Moreton]

On 5/16/2025 at 1:25 PM, Wichman said:

What type of glue did you use? Did you weight the piece down or use clamps?

Typically I use E6000 to glue the backer and I weight the piece down.