Hello Reddit —
I'm building a Peruvian walnut and brass double vanity for my wife, and I'd like to pick your brains on how to keep the boards from warping. She really wanted the reeded look, which I somehow managed to pull off without messing up the lines too badly. The problem: whenever I sand the faces, the boards almost immediately warp. My plan is to lay them on a wet towel to flatten them back out, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to keep them flat after that.
My thought is to hold off on finishing the drawer faces until they're fully installed and clamped to the drawer boxes. If I go that route, how much clamping force should I use to attach the fronts? Would wood glue help by adding some moisture to the side opposite the reeding? Or should I just screw them on?
Any other ideas or thoughts?
FWIW, all of the drawer faces are solid single boards, ranging from 26" x 10.5" for the largest down to 16" x 7.5" for the smallest (4th image). They'll overhang the drawer boxes by about an inch.
The side piece (3rd image) is about 6 boards jointed together and is currently fairly warped. That's the one I'm most concerned about, since it has the most surface area to crack or break.
Finish plan: General Finishes water-based satin topcoat for a bit of color, then 2 coats of Bona Traffic HD for durability — same schedule I used on the apron that runs across the vanity under the countertop (visible in the photos).
reeded fronts are really really not ideal for bathrooms tbh, they're going to warp and be impossible to clean
You're right. I was so preoccupied with whether I could reed them, I never stopped to think if I should. At this point, I'm going to finish them, and if I end up replacing them down the road, c'est la vie.
Could you route out a channel along the backside and epoxy in some aluminum bar stock? You should be able to keep it hidden if you don’t pass the channel all the way through
Thanks - someone else suggested the same thing with brass, so I'm taking that as a sign. The fronts are just 5/8" thick. How deep can I go with the channel - 1/4" max? And would you epoxy the full length, or just the middle so the wood can still move?
When doing paint grade I used HDF and it was 1" thick. I've also done stabilized (moisture/humidity check) cross grain (perpendicular to flute direction) laminated hardwood strips dado into the doors. I've done the flute patterns laminated on a HDF core and veneered. Also done decorative square brass inlays as a decorative pattern on backside to help add rigidity. Thickness and stabilization techniques are your friends to avoid the curls.
I'd listen to this person!
This is helpful, thanks. The cross-grain strips and backside inlay ideas seem most doable since my fronts are already made. They're only 5/8" thick though - how deep do you typically go with those dados?
One thing I can tell you for sure is finish all sides. Don’t attach and then finish because that’s asking for warping even with flat boards
What do you think about glue on one side and finish on the other? And then the drawer (also a walnut board, not reeded) having finish on the "outside" (which would be the inside of the drawer - if that makes sense). I'm still not sure if it's better to glue the boards or just screw them.
NGL I thought that was a big ass Hershey bar at first
Perfect - that's exactly the look I was going for
Perfect - that's exactly the look I was going for