Replies

1. 
   JPGrout | Apr 16, 2003 03:09am | #1

   A couple of questions come to me

   "After cutting the strips my first task was to flatten one side in prep for the "planer". I checked the grain direction, determined which way the board was bowed and proceeded to run it over the "planer" until the knives cut for the full pass."

   First off do you have a jointer or do you have two planers?

   a planer will NOT make a board flat without all kinds of jigs,shims etc., And the results are iffy at best.

   Think this way, jointers flatten and straighten, planers make two faces paralell. and if the faces are bowed or twisted you will end up with two bowed and twisted but thinner faces.

   If indeed you have a jointer and were using it to flatten a board the following may help.

   It seems to me that you were cutting a bit off each end from your description. Are you sure that you flipped the board to keep it equal?

   Otherwise, all I could think of that would allow the board to be tapered that much was a very badly bowed board that retained it's shape until all the reaction wood was gone.

   You might check the jointer and the knives and make sure that the beds are coplaner and that the knives are not to high in relation to the out feed table.You can tell this easily with a 12" piece of wood by starting it into the knives and stopping at the lead edge of the outfeed table. Once you get there shut off the jointer move the knives out of the way and see if the front edge of the board bumps into the table and tries to raise up. If it does you will cut very nice tapers all day long.

   You are also running longer stock than normal I assume, so you need to watch how you are feeding the boards. The technique takes practice but you can do it. As you run the board check the outfeed to make sure the knives are not pushing the piece up.

   This is a common occurance especially with harder wood (maple) and even slightly dull knives.

   Joe

1. 
   PelhamPete | Apr 17, 2003 06:42pm | #4

   Hi Joe,

   You wrote:

   <<Are you sure that you flipped the board to keep it equal? >>

   I am assuming that you mean feed one end into the blade first, and then feed the other end (into the blade), i.e., flip it end-for-end with every pass. 

   I have never been able to successfully use my jointer to joint or flatten a board (I do this with handplanes) ... I pretty much always end up with a flattened out "V".   If this end-for-end proceedure is considered the proper process- I am amazed 'cuz I have never read anywhere that is how one uses a jointer.

   Peter T., jointer newbie :-)

1. 
   JPGrout | Apr 18, 2003 03:04am | #5

   Peter

   The problem with a bowed board is that if you feed the board over a jointer from end to end you are liable to end up with a flat board that has a taper in it. To counteract that I have been feeding boards for many years by flipping them so that I end up with the two ends reasonably close to the same thickness. I must say that it does a lot to keep the material from ending up thinner than I want.

   As an example I construct a fair amount of entry doors 8' tall out of 8/4, looking to end up with a finished thickness of 1 3/4". Granted, I start by picking 8' stiles from the stack that are relativly straight and free from twist in the roughout stage, none the less I still have to be able to end up with straight flat stiles.( bowed doors are a pain) When I move to the jointer, I determine the bow and set it on the jointer table somewhere close to the middle and push the board forward to the end. If the cut starts around 2' or so from the end I will flip the board and run the other end. If it only hits in the last foot or so I run the same pass until i get to the 2' point then flip it (I keep track of how many passes I make). So run and flip ,run and flip until it is hitting all the board from near center on. Then I will make one or two more passes the full length of the material to get it truly flat. By doing this you should be able to maximize the thickness of the material and you can actually throw a tape on the board to check that you are not wasting material or taking more off one end than the other.

   One more thing you should know is I do all this on a 6" General jointer with 43" of tables. I have lots of practice at it and do all this without the aid of extra tables, stands or supports. I keep my jointer in good shape and it has paid off. 

   Joe

2. 
   mgumaer | Apr 16, 2003 03:57pm | #2

   I'm certainly no expert, but, the first thing that comes to mind is that your jointing long boards with a significant bow. You certainly don't want to joint anything longer than you will end up using in your project. In other words, if your bench is going to be 6' long, don't joint 8' or 10' boards later cutting them to length. If you have an 8' board with a 1" bow, assuming the bow is constant along it's length, cut it in half and you have 2 4' boards with a half inch of bow (and much less wood left behind at your jointer). I'm not sure if cutting your boards to half the length of your bench is appropriate, but, it might save you a lot of wood.

   Matt

3. 
   ron61 | Apr 17, 2003 03:34am | #3

   Is the maple you are working rough sawn still or has it been surface?

   Have you ripped up all you stock all ready?

   Sounds like you are doing lots of hard work.