After building my own timber-frame home, I have begun my first real attempt at furniture making. I had the fortune of inheriting a 30′ x 18+” cherry log on land that my wife & I purchased. It had been sitting there for several years but yielded at least 1500 bdft of useable lumber after being bandsawed. After being stickered in the barn for 2 years, I’ve gotten the itch to make a “farm” dining room table with 4″ x 4″ turned legs purchased from Matthew Burak Classic Designs. The top will be roughly 84″ x 42″. Now here’s my problem, after carefully selecting the best set of boards, & starting to plane them, it has become obvious that they are all not true. When sitting on a flat concrete floor, alternate corners sit up 1/4″ to 3/8″ off the ground. My planer has roughly 12″ infeed & outfeed tables and probably isn’t capable of truing the boards. Worse yet, I fear that if I were able to plane them ’til they were true, I might only have a 1/2″ thick board left.
So I’m wondering, are there any tricks to convincing these boards (they’re all like this) to be straight. If I manage to join them in their untrue state will it wrench the table frame untrue?
Replies
Chiselit,
I don't think you could even true those boards on a planer if you wanted to. Try to find someone with a jointer, that is what you will need to flatten 1 face and then you can run the boards through your planer to make both faces parallel.
BTW, are you sure you have 1500bf? I bought a 10' long 24" diameter cherry log and had it sawn straight through and it yielded 280 bf
Lee
You don't say how thick the boards are at present. They need to be jointed (datum face, true edge). Most dining room tables (and conference tables) are not single boards length-wise. It is hard to get non-first growth lumber of that length to be stable (hard, but not impossible, but pretty hard). Very long boards are difficult to joint properly even on a good power machine. With skill and winding sticks you could do it be hand- if the boards are thick enough. Another reason to think about using shorter boards for your table top design is that it is a bear to move an 84" x 42" table top (think bed design).
Good luck,
Glaucon
If you don't think too good, then don't think too much...
Sometimes I have found that you will need to cut the length of the board down. This will relieve some internal stress of the board and might help it straighten out a little bit. At least maybe enough to plane it down flat.
http://www.kalafinefurniture.blogspot.com
There are only 635BF even possible from a log that size, and that is not counting any waste at all.
As to the trueness of your boards, first you need a jointer to flatten and true one face before you even think about the planner. There are some pretty good articles around on how to mill a board four square. That should get you down the right path. It is no more difficult than cutting that timber frame.
rough cut the boards to approximate length before you try to square them up...if you cut a 9' board into 3 pieces you will have to remove less materil from the 3' pieces to get them square than you would have to remove to get it square along the entire 9' length.
you need to flatten one side using a jointer or hand plane...
then you can plane them to a specific thickness...
then joint one edge...
then rip a parrallel edge...
end result...square stock...hopefully you have thick enough boards to accomodate the quantitiy of material taht needs to be removed...
Hi,
Have a ? concerning Jointing. I'm wondering if it is safe to joint a 2ft length of board . Does it matter if you begin by jointing the edge of the board first and then the face?
Wanda
Hi Wanda200, A two foot board is plenty long enough to joint. Just remember to use push sticks/pads and keep finghers safe. You should flatten a face first, plane to thickness, then square the edges. I remember it as FEE, or Faces, Edges, Ends.
Paul
Paul
I beg to differ. The right sequence is to flatten one face on the jointer and then square 1 edge, either on the jointer or on a table saw with a jig set up for squaring edges.. For the rest you can chose your order. It is nit picking, because in the end you end up with 4 dressed sides and parallel edges. JL
JL,
That's fine too. The main point being to start the process by flatting a side first not an edge. I just prefer to work the faces first. :)
Paul
If you don't flatten one face first it is doubtful that one would be able to properly joint a square edge since to produce a square edge one must reference one face against the fence.
Hi pzaxtl,
You're right. In my second post I inadvertently substituted " side" for the word " face". faces, edges, ends. I guess I need to be a little more careful proof reading.
Paul
Hi,
Thanks for the tip. That's easy to remember.. FEE
Wanda
Chisel
The advice here is sound. Your planer only makes one side of a board parallel to the other side. So if it's cupped and twisted, the planer makes the board a parallel sided cupped and twisted board. By flattening one side on a jointer first, you will now have a flat reference to use the planer to make a nice parallel side with, and the entire board will then be flat enough to make a table top.
If you're in the Chicago area, I have a 12" jointer, and would be happy to invite you to my shop and show you how to get those boards ready to work. Let me know.
Walnutz
I would try to make two 42" X 42" glued up slabs and use table extension slides to incorporate leaves to be able to make the table even longer if you need to. You can pick up a good set of extensions at Lee Valley or Woodworker's HDW and if you want a trestle design they even have extensions where the top move and the trestle remains stationary. They have a cogwheel design and they work pretty well. I like the wood design ,but some people like the metal ones better.
I don't know who told you that you got 1,500 bd. ft. out of that size log. I hope it wasn't the sawyer, because they usually charge by the bd.ft. Some do by time spent. That size log would yeild conservatively about 400 bd. ft.
I'll assume you do not have jointer or a lot of experience hand planing surfaces.
There are a couple of ways to do this.You may be able to rip the boards into narrower stock,turn one over and reglue. You still have to flatten one side and straighten an edge.You can flatten on the planer with a careful setup.
You need a carrier board,plywood,mdf etc about 4" longer than the longest board.Glue a 1/2" thick stop block on the carrier board ,at the infeed end.This will keep the work from sliding back on the carrier. Then you need to shim the low spots and hot glue the shims.You need two winding sticks,two paralell boards the same exact height.Mine are made from 5/4 hardwood 2" high and various lengths.The winding sticks when sighted will quickly show you where the boards have to be shimmed to get a flat surface. Make sure there are enough shims, the rollers will push down on unsupported areas and you will wind up with snipe instead of a flat board.
Why not try to flatten one side with a plane ,if you do not succeed at first you can still do it the way I described above.After you get one side flat you do not need the carrier board.You can separate the hot glued shims with a heat gun.
mike
Chiselit,
Based on an article in FWW a couple of years ago, I glue up my panels rough and then flatten. However, I've never done anything the dimensions you need. As the article pointed out at the time, this way most of the wood does not end up in shavings.
Chiselit,
Check out this FWW article:
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=24118
-Nazard
Well, I'm going to go against the general flow of the advice most posters seem to be giving about having to start with perfectly jointed and thicknessed stock for this project. My theory is, you gotta do what you gotta do with what you got!. A 1/4" to 3/8" twist in 7' is not too much to work with, IMHO. Especially since you are making a "farm" dining table which, to me, means a bit rustic. Don't worry too much about starting with flat wood -- worry about ending up with a flat table top.
If it were me, I'd rip the boards to 6" wide, or less if needed, to minimize the winding, rough thickness them, and joint them up to the width of your top. It may take some hand plane "tweaking", but I think you'll be able to get a decent top without starting with perfectly flat wood. Another way I've dealt with twisted wood when I *had* to use it was to fasten it to a thicker good piece of wood to hold it flat and then rip the edges with a glue-joint blade on the TS. This makes a good joint edge already corrected for the wind. Then you can clamp it with cauls to hold it flat during glueup.
Doing this top in stages may also help, i.e., first joining and flattening three 14" sections (or four 11" sections), and then joining the three of them together as a final step. Once it's glued up, flatten the top and don't worry too much about the bottom. This can be done easily with a scrub plane, which, with some sanding, makes a nice, hand-hewn surface for an informal table like this. Or, if you want it smooth, finish up with planes/scrapers. If you wanna "cheat", find someone with a wide belt sander and have them run it through after it's joined up. Your top should be pretty flat at this point, but if there it's still a bit out, you can correct it by properly fastening it to the table frame. Remember that you want the top to be flat and smooth, but you don't really need to be too concerned with what the bottom looks like. You'll be able to save a lot more of your original wood thickness by taking this approach.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
I recently completed a table of approx the same dimensions and had the same issues. The table has 6 pieces of approx 6-8 inches and one 10 inch in the middle. All 8/4 (cherry) stock initially. This is how I solved the issues. To flatten the slightly bowed and twisted boards using the thickness planer I used straight and true pieces of 3/4" x 1" oak "runners" approx the same length of the stock drilled every 6 inches. I attached these to the sides of the stock using a flat surface as base. I then ran the stock through the planer on the "runners" to finish one side and then removed the "runners" finished the other side using the now true side. To joint the edges I clamped the stock to my work table top and then used a router with a 3 inch bit flush triming bit running the guide bearing against the edge of my work table top (i.e. the factory true edge) making sure that width was accurate. I then jointed the other edge using the table saw. Repeat for all pieces. I glued up the pieces working from outer pieces towards the midde. Some minor hand work was required to finish off the top. Beware..it gets heavy!
I cut and dry my own lumber and I have had a lot of luck straightening warped boards on a thickness plainer. I pass it along to you for what it is worth.
First, I like to cut the length to as small a size as I can consistent with the project I will use it on. Then. I mount it on a heavy straight plank, cupped side up. I secure it to the plank by bracing the elevated portions from underneath with wedges. Then, I countersink screws in either ends of the board ( the area where the snipe will occur and will be scrap anyway) to hold the board to the plank. Be sure you countersink deep enough so the blade will not hit the screws.
Then, plain down one side flat. Remove the screws and plain the other side in the normal way.
In mounting your workpiece on the plank try to keep it as horizontal to the plank as possible otherwise, you will take off too much from one end. your board will be thick at one end and too thin at the other.
Give this a try and let me know what you think of your results.
As a precaution, check the moisture content of your boards before working with them to be sure they are in the range of 6 to 8 percent moisture.
Jigmaker
Power planers are not designed to true-up boards. The first thing you must do is true-up one side with a jointer or hand plane to produce a true plane and only then should you run the boards through your planer.
Not to long ago there was an article here on this site on using a shop made sled in your planer that would flatten wide boards, in essence turning your planer into a jointer. It seemed interesting and well thought out. You might consider this as an alternative to hand planing. A simple search here should locate the article( unless you have to subscribe ) .
Paul
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