Hi Nick
It you are going to attempt to plane the curve out of the wood so that it fits the sides, then wont the tongue and groove joint have to be remade..
If you keep soaking just the outer face of of the plank it will tend to cause that side to expand causing the wood to straighten. You could also experiment with a steam iron on the outer face of the wood to help soften the resins in the woof, it looks a bit like oak to me.
Then I would just glue and clamp using a good epoxy resin and stout sacrificial timbers to protect the cabinet from the clamp jaws..
The plank is settling into its preferred natural shape, so if it is not reassembled with a good strong glue it will eventually warp again. If the glue holds and stops the joint from opening again as the wood tries to warp then the base timber could split, but that would not be too harmful, at least the front joint will look good, and the split could be viewed as a natural feature of the wood.
Mike
It you are going to attempt to plane the curve out of the wood so that it fits the sides, then wont the tongue and groove joint have to be remade..
If you keep soaking just the outer face of of the plank it will tend to cause that side to expand causing the wood to straighten. You could also experiment with a steam iron on the outer face of the wood to help soften the resins in the woof, it looks a bit like oak to me.
Then I would just glue and clamp using a good epoxy resin and stout sacrificial timbers to protect the cabinet from the clamp jaws..
The plank is settling into its preferred natural shape, so if it is not reassembled with a good strong glue it will eventually warp again. If the glue holds and stops the joint from opening again as the wood tries to warp then the base timber could split, but that would not be too harmful, at least the front joint will look good, and the split could be viewed as a natural feature of the wood.
Mike
