@Bigsmooth911 Yes. Showing that the warpage is both expected & predictable. The difference here being the deck boards are not joined edge to edge, they are fastened to the joists so they each warp independently.
Alternating the grain doesn’t prevent the warpage, it just reduces the effect when it does.
Now, there ya go again. (As President Reagan used to say.) 
I guess it would take a major project to work this out. Well, there is YouTube … 
Was thinking the same thing. It is definitely depends on who you ask.
For all you Red Oak users, here is an interesting link with shrinkage information
I just ran across this opinion last week or so. Alternate Growth Rings
Something I have not yet seen mentioned, Air Flow.
When cutting straight board I have found that turning off the vacuum helps.
When I ran a palm router, warping was terrible. I found the heat and air from the router to be a big problem with carving. I switched to a water cooled spindle because of it. Also, the vacuum/chip removal contributed.
I still get warped projects sometimes, but they are way less without all the air movement when cutting.
2cw
I do 3D carvings almost exclusively. Through trial and error, I have come up with the method of sealing the carved surface with shellac while it’s still on the table being held down with the clamps. I also cut my designs in a way to leave it as thick as possible. When I get some cupping on the un coated back side, I use a heat gun to warm up the wood and bend it back into flatness. Once it’s flat, I immediately seal it with shellac.
This has worked well for me.
Beautiful work shown on your website
I never like to glue up boards over 3 inches wide. If I want a wide board then I rip it into smaller pieces and glue it back together lining up the grains. Also it is very important not to overtighten the clamps. You should be able to lay the boards together and get a tight fit without clamp pressure. If not then re run through the joiner(if you have one) until the fit is perfect without clamp pressure.
I’m not going to understand that sentence until you rewrite it.
If you want to use a board that is say 6 inches wide then rip it into 2-3 inch pieces and line up the grain pattern so it looks like 1-6 inch board.
This certianly indicates some moisture, perhpas from the gluing together.If the borads are dry and your enviorment is not damp, no cupping should take place. Knowing that you desire “real” wood for carving, you might wnat to try lameting some MDF or MDO in the center of your stock while having an adequate dept on the top and bottom of real wood. From my point of view I belive your use of glueing several planks togoeter is contributiong to the warping. Tom
Afer your rapid carving if possible or as soon as possible coat the surface with a high molecular poly ethylene glycol to stablize the wood., prevetns checking and cracking. Tom
That’s another “What the heck is that ?” lesson.
Thank you !
Its avaialble form woodworking store like woodcraft. Some use RV (Non-toxic also and cheaper) antifreeze ( propylene glycol) the glycol agents are absorbed into the wood and stablizes the moisture % uniformly to presnt warps and cracking. Often used in large carvings, but also works on raw lumber.
My experience, FWIW: If the shop atmosphere is drier than the wood, the wood is slowly drying on the outside surfaces and moister in the middle. When I plane off a side, or carve it a lot, that newly exposed surface begins to dry, pulling in on itself overnight. If the alternate is true (humid shop, dry wood), the newly exposed surface begins to moisten and swell, pushing out (cupping away). The only guidance I’ve read on this is to plane roughly, let the piece sit for a day or two to equalize and do its warping thing, then fine plane to restore the surface with minimal warping, and use in your project. On a side note, if you spritz the “tight” (inside cup) side of your carved piece with a little water, you’ll see the board flatten out again. Until it dries again, lol. It’d be an interesting experiment to spritz and flatten, then promptly seal with a waterproofer like poly before it can begin cupping again.
@BrownMagic If you’re getting KD lumber - and your shop is humidity controlled - and you’re still having this problem consistently and across different boards consider:
Those are the things I would watch for.
A couple things I noticed aren’t mentioned here:
If you’re surfacing the lumber and taking off a fair amount, it’s generally a good idea to sticker it with good air circulation to allow the newly exposed surfaces to acclimate.
Don’t leave flat panels, especially newly surfaces ones laying flat. Even leaving them on the machine overnight is enough to create a cup in your piece.
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