Replies

1. 
   RoyinMD | Mar 20, 2003 08:28pm | #1

   I'll disagree on the starting procedure. I seldom use the jointer for surface planing. I place the best (flatest) surface down and plane the worst side for 1 to 3 passes. Then flip over and do 1-3 passes. The remaining planing is reducing the thickness from the worst looking side.

   Enjoy, Roy

2. 
   TomMGTC | Mar 20, 2003 08:31pm | #2

   For me it all depends on the piece. I flatten one face on the jointer, the other in the planer, then I final thickness by removing material from whichever face is worse. Maybe one side has more sapwood than the other. Maybe one side is more prone to chipout. For custom furniture each board needs to be assessed on it's own.

   Tom
3. 
   BarryO | Mar 20, 2003 08:35pm | #3

   Once I get two parallel faces, I alternate between sides to get down to final thickness.  This prevents more wood from being taken from one side than the other, which may cause it to wrap over time.

4. 
   GrouchieGrum | Mar 20, 2003 09:10pm | #4

   I am by far not an expert, but currently I use my jointer if the width of the board is less than 6" to get one side flat, and then take it to my planer(flatside down) and plain the back side flat.. then take it back to my joiner to get the edge at 90 degrees from the two wide sides. Theoretically the wide sides should be parallel by now, so my edge should be dead on perpedicular. (as long as my fence is 90 degrees from the bed of the jointer)  then I clean the other edge via my tablesaw....

   if a board is wider than 6" I take said board and lay it on as flat a surface as I can find, and where I find twists or cups, I use wedges to make the board flat on the one side. (planers have a tendency to make wood conform to a flat surface.) then I push said board through my planer, to get the other side flat. once the other side is flat, then I remove my wedges and plane the once-wedged side to get it parallel. I then run one of the edges over my jointer, and finish the other edge off with my tablesaw...

   as for alternating the board through, I generally put the board through whichever way is least damaging via the grain(splintering/chipping/etc)... although sometimes I find it easier to alternate if I am getting a lot of snipe(mostly do to a single man operation and heavier boards requiring more support... I aint smurt enuff tu figur owt wun uv dem der rollin suport tingees.. hehe)

   I am prolly incorrect on my procedures, so would love to be corrected if I am doing something wrong....

   not sure if this is what you were wanting to know, but its how I have been utilizing these tools, so far...

5. 
   forestgirl | Mar 21, 2003 01:08am | #5

   "do you alternate passes through the machine (i.e. one pass one the non-reference face, another pass on the reference face)" -- you need to keep planing with the 'reference face' down until the other face is perfectly parallel to it. 

   Let's say Side A is your nicely face-jointed flat face, and Side U (U=ugly) is your crummy side.  If you take two slices off of Side U, but there are still some irregularities in it, and you flip the board over and plane Side A, then Side A will be planed parallel with Side U and will immediately re-named Side U2 (ugly too). 

   I'm just getting into a routine with this jointing/planing/ripping thing myself, but got into a groove the last couple of days with some Alder I'm working with.  My favorite routine so far is to

   • joint one edge, using flattest face for reference to fence
   • use jointed edge against the fence and face-joint the best face of the two available (leaving the ugliest face for the planer)
   • plane the final face
   • joint the last edge, or if sizing needed, rip to size and joint.

   Sometimes, I go ahead and joint the 2nd edge as step 3 and then plane.  By using the jointer on the best face (to make the reference face) there's less work to do with the jointer.  IMO, the planer is the better tool for tackling the more irregular wood.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

1. 
   redrock | Mar 21, 2003 01:46am | #6

   hi forestgirl

   by doing an edge before a face will give you an edge that is very seldom 90 degees to that face and since you don't need a smooth edge to joint a face, why do it? you will only have to run that edge though to get square to that face.

   reading this through it really sounds complicated but its only the way my head works.

   len

1. 
   forestgirl | Mar 21, 2003 03:20am | #9

   Len -- as I said, it was my favorite procedure so far.  "So far" being that the stock has been pretty clean, with at least one face close enough to flat to give a good 90* edge.

   In this particular project, the Alder was 6" and 8+" wide, rough but not waney edges, and planed faces.  I jointed it on one edge first so that I could rip the boards using a clean edge against the fence (have found that this step pays off with less burning).  I'm really glad I did that before I planed it to thickness, as two of the boards went a little haywire after they were ripped.  The cut-plan I had settled on went out the window at that point.  I flattened most of the now-smaller boards,  then planed them to thickness.  Lost maybe 2 board feet out of 15 to twist or bow.

   Had very little extra thickness to play with on this one, so had to be methodical and work in small increments so as not to end up with something pretty but useless.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

1. 
   BOBABEUI | Mar 21, 2003 04:56pm | #11

   All,

   Thanks for your responses.. I find this forum very helpful and informative.. Especially for an amateur woodworker like me (kind of speeds up the school of hard knocks learning process and minimizes the knocks)

2. 
   BOBABEUI | Mar 21, 2003 04:52pm | #10

   Forestgirl,

   I guess I should have been more explicit about not flipping over the reference face until the non reference face had been made completely parallel (i.e. all the rough bandsawing markes when the lumber was cut are removed).

   Thanks for your response..

6. 
   clampman2 | Mar 21, 2003 02:29am | #7

   Bob,

   Like Tom says, each board requires a separate decision. It is nice to be able to remove the same amount from each face, to minimize movement, but that often isn't possible.

   All of us seem to wind up with sticks that are just long enough to use but not long enough to cut off planer snipe. In those instances, I flatten the best face on the jointer, and remove all other stock from the back.

   I have only 5 cells remaining in my brain, and since 4 are occupied with eating, walking, talking and one other important function, the one remaining can't remember which way to spin which side of which board to minimize tearout.

   So, in general, once I get the best face good (ie. flat and without tearout- or as best I think it's going to get), I'm too chicken to mess with that face any more, and remove the rest from the other face.

   Good Luck

   Clampman

7. 
   ChasStanford | Mar 21, 2003 03:00am | #8

   Using machines you should flatten one face.  Register that face down on the first two passes through the planer.  Flip the board and bring it to thickness with another two to three passes.  This assumes that you don't have tons of stock to remove.  If so, then keep flipping the board until you get there, just make sure to register the flattened face down on a minimum of two passes, or until the planer makes a full cut on the unjointed side (no skips).