removing twist???

[Jeff Borges]

HI everyone..I acquired three 6 foot long by 12 inch wide by 2.5-3 inch thick pieces of cherry with the bark included... very wild curly grain..beautiful pieces... trouble is.. they have quite a twist in them... rather than plane the twist out.. (winding sticks and all) and remove a substantial amount of wood, I am trying to find other options..two I have come up with..no idea if they would work or not... first, hog out the under side and effectively make the board thinnere and then glue in a thick hard piece of lumber to counteract the twist.. or second bolt on a steel plate.. take out as much twist as the plate and lag bolts could handle, and the planing the rest of the (hopefully) minimized twist out...

the thickness and size of the lumber will make great hall tables..if i can untwist them without removing too much lumber...hope thats clear enough.. thanks for your help..

Jeff

[Alan Turner]

I think you have no choice but to flatten them. I have never seen a mechanical method that worked when dealing with a twist on a heavy chunk of wood. I think you will need to plan on a slightly thinner table top.

[lou sansone]

I agree with alan .. some twist can be restrained by the table frame itself, but not much. Is there a way to sumerge the wood for a few weeks in a pond and then pull them back out and try to sticker and dry them flat with a lot of weight? that might just have a chance of working.
lou

[Jeff Borges]

I have no pond.. I might try to re wet and straighten them..

thought about just flattening the top.. leve the missing material.. "on the bottom" as part of its "charm"
the wood is too beautiful to cut into small pieces..thanks for your help, gentlemen