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It's now all wrong, should I wet it and dry it between two heavy flat surfaces?



Any ideas?

Never seen one warp, are you sure it was because of getting wet or did you try to dry it with something like a high dryer?

Years, and years ago - I was told that you can actually help to maintain the surface by soaking it in warm water once a year or so. I actually do that and after the soak just set it on the counter to air dry. Haven't had one warp yet.

Right I will give that a go. Cheers for the advice, no idea why it warped.

I'd say try the re-wetting it and sticking it under a heavy board. That's what we do in my university's art department to fix the wavy edge you get when you soak paper so it's probably worth a go.

Tried it, waiting as it's on a Worksurface with an MDF board with a load of weight on it.

I think it is deformed rather than warped. This is a bit vexing, I cannot think what has done this, it's been good for years. I walk in 2 nights ago and it has ridges and bubbles on it, as if it has been heated by a heat gun?

It's odd because I don't own a Heat gun, my wife has a hair dryer but she wouldn't do anything so purile. Maybe it was caused by the Sunshine through the Window? It was exceptionally sunny yesterday (29 Degrees C) and the house was very warm with sunshine pouring in through the window.

The Last thing I did was some Insta-Moulds at the weekend for my Iron Hands, I did put a jug of Water on the mat (90 Degrees C) so it might have been that but the reaction was like 72 hours after the event?

Typical Welsh weather, the one time we have sunlight it's enough to deform a cutting mat!

Any chance you spilled something on it? My old cutting mat (cheap green one) got a bit lumpy due to numerous glue spillages, so maybe something reacted with it?

It could have been glue, I have bought some of the Gale Force 9 super glue. Lately I've been using it alot so you maybe right, superglue can get pretty hot if it touchs certain materials can it not?

What about ironing it?

LunaHound wrote:What about ironing it?

No.

The thing to keep in mind is that with these types of materials - the most likely cause of the warping was actually heat. The other possibility would be being stored on its edge.

Sometimes people have warping...which really isn't so much warping as it is glue/paint which got on the mat and caused it to curl around the glue/paint. If you wash off that mess...it will normally go back to its original flat shape. If it is stored on its edge, you can normally get it back into shape by laying it flat and stacking something like a pile of books on it for a week or so.

Heat though will actually cause a physical change to the material. The foam lining and the outer skins change properties. Plasticizers which make is self healing are driven out and the core becomes harder. When that happens - you can't go back. There really isn't any way to easily heat the whole surface to the same level in order to prevent a variety of material conditions. That variety of material conditions ends up being the cause of the warping.

I have seen a few ideas to handle that - but they are not entirely reliable nor are they always easy to do. One of them involves a flat hard surface in direct sunlight and two sheets of plate glass (the really thick stuff like they use for glass table tops). Other than that - it involves industrial equipment that your average hobbyist won't have access to.

It's a bit better, but I think I will buy a new one and use this one as a Spraying mat/ workbench mat.

Sean_OBrien wrote:

LunaHound wrote:What about ironing it?

No.

The thing to keep in mind is that with these types of materials - the most likely cause of the warping was actually heat. The other possibility would be being stored on its edge.

Sometimes people have warping...which really isn't so much warping as it is glue/paint which got on the mat and caused it to curl around the glue/paint. If you wash off that mess...it will normally go back to its original flat shape. If it is stored on its edge, you can normally get it back into shape by laying it flat and stacking something like a pile of books on it for a week or so.

Heat though will actually cause a physical change to the material. The foam lining and the outer skins change properties. Plasticizers which make is self healing are driven out and the core becomes harder. When that happens - you can't go back. There really isn't any way to easily heat the whole surface to the same level in order to prevent a variety of material conditions. That variety of material conditions ends up being the cause of the warping.

I have seen a few ideas to handle that - but they are not entirely reliable nor are they always easy to do. One of them involves a flat hard surface in direct sunlight and two sheets of plate glass (the really thick stuff like they use for glass table tops). Other than that - it involves industrial equipment that your average hobbyist won't have access to.

Sea_OBrien for the win!


My mat has warped in the past (as if I had rolled it up) and it was purely down to me storing it up on its short edge for an extended time. Feth knows why, but it did.

It was a large A1 one bought cheap from one of those Works art/book shops.

All I did was lay it back on the table top and left it there for a while and it was soon back to normal, I may have eighed it down a little where it "rolled" up.

Yeah mine is a bit better now, still oh well, will buy another one.