Official Luthiers Forum!

Howdy! I recently bought some wood, but when it came in the mail it was
cupped. The pieces are maple and of dimensions 6" by 20". I dont know
how to get the cup out of them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much!

Very best Regards

   - Nate, The happy man!

How thick are they? You could stack and sticker...

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

If we are talking processed back side or top sets then you really should sticker the set for a month in the shop to allow them to acclimate to the shop. This is stacking the wood supported between sticker planks to give air space then weighting the stickered stack. this will allows the wood to relax straight and acclimate to your shops RH. The reason they cupped on you is likely the went through a major humidity change while in transit. This is not unusual

Nate, Welcome to the OLF, just if you don't know the terms, Stickering is where you lay down small say 1/2"X1/2" strips, on a flat surface, lay your wood on top of that making sure you space the strips or stickers to fully support the wood, lay another row and so on and so on. At the end, you would place something heavy on top to compress and hold the wood in place. This allows for air to circulate around the wood and dry plus avoids cupping.

I compress and sticker all new woods coming in and then compress under MDF board while working flat stock.

Mike

If stickering and acclimating doesn'teventually work, I've flattened sides and backs that had a permanent set with a hot clothes iron. I may have used foil between the iron and the wood to prevent marital issues, and I may have wet the wood slightly.

I have an old steam iron I inherited from my wife that works good for flattening stock. I make sure I use distilled water to avoid staining. Sticker immediately afterwards.

When you sticker, make sure your sticker boards are in line from the top to the bottom of the stack so you don't induce any bends in the other direction. And the stickers should all be the same height too (3/4" works good). Weight the stack down with something and let em stabilize in your shop for a few days.

I'm just a "newb" so maybe someone else has something else.

Kirt

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Horton, MI

Mist with water on the cupped side, lay flat on a concrete floor in your basement for a day or so. That'll take out most if not all of the cupping and then sticker em