: I built a two by four box beam, using 1/2 inch plywood. I picked out the best
: sheet that I could out of the stack. It was warped a little, but not too
: bad. I used the plans in Nick's book for the beam. I dry fitted it and it
: looked good, then glued it up. This morning I took all the clamps off and
: found that I had a 1/2 inch bow in the side of the beam. It is straight on
: the top. I just wondered if anyone knows of a way to straighten a plywood
: beam.

: A workaround will be to enlarge the cutouts in the forms, but I had rather
: straighten the beam if it is feasible.

: Always,
: Ronnie Armstrong

Hi Ronnie

Well, you were probably right about just opening up the forms to allow adjustment for the beam. I doubt you would be too successful at cutting and trying to straighten the beam. You would end up with kinks in it instead of straightening the curve.

The better option, depending on your financial situation, of course, would be to build a new beam using 3/4" plywood and make sure it was flat or at least each piece that's bowed to be placed opposite each other to counteract the bend. I had to do that on my strongbench of Ted Moore's design. Worked out well as you can see in the photos of my strongbench. That is, if I can get them to post.

The last three pics are of the beam as I was building it. The plywood was bowed at least 3" to 4" from end to end and still came out even when all said and done. Hope this helps!

Rehd