Interesting guy. His slow talking exudes knowledge. I learned some neat tricks already. I will go through his pie safe videos with interest.BuckeyeDennis wrote:Ah, but good engineering is artistry! Or even magic, if you don't understand how it works ... ]you[/U] the most satisfaction.
To me, understanding how and why wood moves can take a whole lot of frustration out of the woodworking process. I learned a lot about this subject from watching free Charles Neil videos. A whale of a lot easier than learning it the hard way.
The "Uncup the Cup" video has lots of info about plywood cupping -- 100% relevant to the original problem in this thread.
The "12-Tin Pie Safe" video series covers, in great detail, how to select and prepare your wood to minimize dimensional accuracy problems. When I follow Charles' recommended processes (for example, "sneak up" on finished dimensions), I can't recall ever having movement problems.
In addition to the free videos on his website, you can find lots more of his videos by searching YouTube. Now mind you, Charles speaks rather slowly, so don't try to watch them when you are in a hurry. In fact, I find that watching them late at night is a great cure for insomnia!
As far as engineering/artistry goes, I am intimately familiar with the concept. As a software developer, as I was for almost 30 years, there is nothing more rigid than computer language code syntax, but using that code, you can literally do anything. You constantly create and expand methods, ideas, etc. So I get it. This should be right up my alley.
Thanks Dennis!
Dick
