My current project is a 3 ft. by 8 ft. rift-sawn white oak dining table. It will be the largest single piece I have ever made. My 6/4 planks have been stored in my shop for several years and are as warp-free as the day they were delivered to my Wyoming residence. I have never resawn such long heavy planks before but I have a well-tuned Laguna 16 bandsaw with a brand-new 1/2 inch Wood Slicer. It has served me well in the past for resawing 3-4 ft. long boards of 3/4 – 1 in. thick oak, walnut, and cherry. I installed the brand-new Laguna DXIII Driftmaster resaw fence which works quite well with no drift. I would like my top to be 1 1/16-1 1/8 in. final thickness. After jointing one face and squaring the edge, I resawed two of my 6/4 planks to 1 3/16 in. thick with the intention of jointing and thickness -planing to the final thickness. However, the boards bowed overnight by 3/32 in. and 7/32 in. over 8ft. Rejointing to get rid of the bow would result in boards about 1 in. thick, especially after thickness planing and sanding. I have jointed and thickness-planed some of the other boards from that same lot of wood with no warpage of any kind. However, this is beyond tedious, wearing on the blades, and wasteful of this beautiful wood. Several questions: 1) is my experience a one-off , or does resawing almost 3/16 in. from such long planks frequently result in such profound bowing? 2) I plan to use Dominos to keep the tops of the boards flush for glue-up. Would they keep the bowed boards flat over the 3 ft. by 8 ft. ? Any advice from your readers and staff would be greatly appreciated.
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Replies
If you intend too remove only 3/16 in. from planks that are 6/4 thick, I would be inclined to skip the resawing and simply joint then plane them to final thickness. Removing equal amounts from both sides can help maintain the natural tension in the board and reduce bowing. That said, the bowing of 3/32 in and 7/32 in (0ver an 8 foot length) that you experienced, does not strike me as being extraordinary. A table designed with aprons would allow you to straighten that amount of deviation when the top is mounted.
Resawing was not necessary, 6/4 lumber will yield 1 1/4 finished panels in the best cases, the extra eight of an inch can simply be removed whith extra passes in the planer.
Yeah, I don't think that amount of bowing over that run is too bad. A well designed base should be able to flatten that into a nice table.
Assuming this stock is at the moisture content it will live at, I would joint one face and edge, then let it sit for a few days at your moisture content environment. Go back and take a look. If you like it, plane it to the desired thickness. And as stated above, plane off equal amounts from both sides. No resawing required - too much work for a thin piece of lumber (unless you need 5/16" stock for something). If its bowed too much, re-joint it and let it rest again. If its still too bowed for your taste, it will not work for you.
RE factors that might make your piece good / or bad: (1) is the face flat sawn, or rift/quarter sawn? oak moves a lot and rift/quarter sawn will be more stable, all else equal AND (2) what is the grain run out doing? nice, well behaved grain will be a lot flatter than a piece with grain running every which way. Targeting the rift/quartersawn pieces that also have nice grain might help you identify the pieces most likely to work for you.
Good luck!
Sadly I am with all the others.
Some boards will just move when you saw or plane them.
I know it's mostly BS, but I prefer to prep close to final then finish when I am ready to glue up. I don't really think it has ever made enough difference to worry about, but it also seems to work for me.
Managing small amounts of bow is an essential part of woodworking - this is where biscuits can help.
As said above, anything that's not Q-sawn, the odds go down as the boards get wider. (You don't say how wide) Always look at the "waste" as 2 pcs, not one.
Work out a clamping strategy to flatten the bowed boards before the glue goes on. Pre-clamping the bows down on risers so all parts slide together would be my choice. Depending on the bow you might glue it up upside down. Adding a mid rail to your apron assembly would be a belt-and-suspenders way to go.