Hello,

I have a 6" jointer and 1 12.5" thicknesser. Recently bought some 14
inch wide mahogany I want to use for door panels. I would truly prefer
to NOT cut them in half so I can joint and thickness the surfaces.

I also have some 8 inch wide oak I would like to use as rails and stiles
for the doors, and I would prefer to flatten this as a single piece
before I run them thought the thicknesser.

So I am looking for suggestions on how to obtain a flat surface on the wood.

Should I plane only 6 inches flat on the jointer and hand plane the rest?

Should I consider planing 6 inches with the grain and the rest against
the grain taking very light cuts on the jointer? I am pretty reluctant
to try this one!

Or should I do it all by hand? (I have a #7, #6, and #4 but no jack
plane.) If I do it by hand what is the proper method for obtaining a
flat surface? Should I plane in an "X" pattern and then reverse
direction? Good exercise but tedious and I am not convinced that I would
get it right.

Are there other power tools that could provide a flat reference surface?
Someone I spoke to suggest ed a sled, and a router, but I have no idea
how to construct it.

And before someone says, "buy an 8" jointer" I already tried that with
SWMBO and was soundly vetoed.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Dean Hummel

In article , Dean Hummel wrote:
Hello,

I have a 6" jointer and 1 12.5" thicknesser. Recently bought some 14
inch wide mahogany I want to use for door panels. I would truly prefer
to NOT cut them in half so I can joint and thickness the surfaces.

Cutting them in half won't help anyway.... they'll still be too wide. :-)

I also have some 8 inch wide oak I would like to use as rails and stiles
for the doors, and I would prefer to flatten this as a single piece
before I run them thought the thicknesser.

So I am looking for suggestions on how to obtain a flat surface on the wood.

This came up a few months ago, and IIRC somebody had a pretty detailed
description of a planer sled. There was also an article about building a sled
in one of the woodworking magazines around that time, which was referred to in
the discussions here. A Google Groups search on "jointer" and "sled" will
probably turn it up.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Hi Dean,

Splitting the boards into pieces that fit your jointer can work fine. Take a
look at the following link. It is an album of mine on my web site.

The pictures of interest are the two that have "joint" as the beginning of
their filename. That was a wide Bubinga board that I split in half, resawed
each piece (all 4), jointed the faces via handplane, thicknessed the pieces
and edged glued the original pieces back together to make a top and bottom
of the display cabinet you see in the pics.

The point being, I don't think you are going to find the joint where the
pieces were glued back together. The Mahogany should be easier to match back
together. The Oak more difficult. But its grain is probably no worse to
match back than the Bubinga was.

Email me if you go this route and I'll help as much as I can.

Otherwise, your #6 will do a fine job. If there is much wind or bow to the
boards, I would use a scrub plane prior to the #6 and finally the #4. Once
you get one side flat, you can take light cuts through a planer as well,
flip the board and do the side that you leveled by hand.

MikeW

"Dean Hummel" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I have a 6" jointer and 1 12.5" thicknesser. Recently bought some 14 inch
wide mahogany I want to use for door panels. I would truly prefer to NOT
cut them in half so I can joint and thickness the surfaces.

I also have some 8 inch wide oak I would like to use as rails and stiles
for the doors, and I would prefer to flatten this as a single piece before
I run them thought the thicknesser.

So I am looking for suggestions on how to obtain a flat surface on the
wood.

Should I plane only 6 inches flat on the jointer and hand plane the rest?

Should I consider planing 6 inches with the grain and the rest against the
grain taking very light cuts on the jointer? I am pretty reluctant to try
this one!

Or should I do it all by hand? (I have a #7, #6, and #4 but no jack
plane.) If I do it by hand what is the proper method for obtaining a flat
surface? Should I plane in an "X" pattern and then reverse direction? Good
exercise but tedious and I am not convinced that I would get it right.

Are there other power tools that could provide a flat reference surface?
Someone I spoke to suggest ed a sled, and a router, but I have no idea how
to construct it.

And before someone says, "buy an 8" jointer" I already tried that with
SWMBO and was soundly vetoed.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Dean Hummel

"Mike W" mwenz *@* wenzloff.com wrote in message
news:M1hFe.4980$6M3.3037@trnddc03...
Hi Dean,

Splitting the boards into pieces that fit your jointer can work fine. Take
a look at the following link. It is an album of mine on my web site.

Da Link, man... You forgot the Link!
Tom,
GD&R

Oops, thanks Tom:

http://wenzloffandsons.com/temp/mikes_wood/


"Dean Hummel" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I have a 6" jointer and 1 12.5" thicknesser. Recently bought some 14 inch
wide mahogany I want to use for door panels. I would truly prefer to NOT
cut them in half so I can joint and thickness the surfaces.

I also have some 8 inch wide oak I would like to use as rails and stiles
for the doors, and I would prefer to flatten this as a single piece before
I run them thought the thicknesser.

So I am looking for suggestions on how to obtain a flat surface on the
wood.

Should I plane only 6 inches flat on the jointer and hand plane the rest?

Should I consider planing 6 inches with the grain and the rest against the
grain taking very light cuts on the jointer? I am pretty reluctant to try
this one!

Or should I do it all by hand? (I have a #7, #6, and #4 but no jack
plane.) If I do it by hand what is the proper method for obtaining a flat
surface? Should I plane in an "X" pattern and then reverse direction? Good
exercise but tedious and I am not convinced that I would get it right.

Are there other power tools that could provide a flat reference surface?
Someone I spoke to suggest ed a sled, and a router, but I have no idea how
to construct it.

And before someone says, "buy an 8" jointer" I already tried that with
SWMBO and was soundly vetoed.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Dean Hummel

I had the same problem many years ago. I scouted the lunmber yars etc
until I found one with a 24" planer. I made an appointment for an hours
time, paid up front and had a thousand lineal feet taken care of. All
I had to do was stand where the boards come out and load them in my
truck. I had previously unloaded the boards where the operator could
grab them and shove them in. The planer could handle several boards at
the same time.

"Mike W" mwenz *@* wenzloff.com wrote in message
news:9ihFe.4981$6M3.1467@trnddc03...
Oops, thanks Tom:

http://wenzloffandsons.com/temp/mikes_wood/

snip
Oooh, Pretty pictures!
Tom

Okay correct me if I'm wrong (which I'm sure you all will), but I'd swear I
read on the wreck or heard David Marks say on his show, that if you're going
to use a really wide piece of wood, that you should split it, let is sit for
a few days, and then joint it and glue it back together in order to release
the tension in it. The theory is that over time, a wide piece of wood will
move a great deal and by splitting it, you can get it to move more quickly
and have a more stable piece in the future.

"Dean Hummel" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I have a 6" jointer and 1 12.5" thicknesser. Recently bought some 14 inch
wide mahogany I want to use for door panels. I would truly prefer to NOT
cut them in half so I can joint and thickness the surfaces.

I also have some 8 inch wide oak I would like to use as rails and stiles
for the doors, and I would prefer to flatten this as a single piece before
I run them thought the thicknesser.

So I am looking for suggestions on how to obtain a flat surface on the
wood.

Should I plane only 6 inches flat on the jointer and hand plane the rest?

Should I consider planing 6 inches with the grain and the rest against the
grain taking very light cuts on the jointer? I am pretty reluctant to try
this one!

Or should I do it all by hand? (I have a #7, #6, and #4 but no jack
plane.) If I do it by hand what is the proper method for obtaining a flat
surface? Should I plane in an "X" pattern and then reverse direction? Good
exercise but tedious and I am not convinced that I would get it right.

Are there other power tools that could provide a flat reference surface?
Someone I spoke to suggest ed a sled, and a router, but I have no idea how
to construct it.

And before someone says, "buy an 8" jointer" I already tried that with
SWMBO and was soundly vetoed.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Dean Hummel

"D Steck" wrote in message
...
Okay correct me if I'm wrong (which I'm sure you all will), but I'd swear
I read on the wreck or heard David Marks say on his show, that if you're
going to use a really wide piece of wood, that you should split it, let is
sit for a few days, and then joint it and glue it back together in order
to release the tension in it. The theory is that over time, a wide piece
of wood will move a great deal and by splitting it, you can get it to move
more quickly and have a more stable piece in the future.

You may be right about David Marks, but if he meant it to apply to _any_
wide board, he was wrong. It's the orientation of the growth rings, their
placement and spacing which make the difference.

A piece of wood made up of narrow boards will move as much as a single
board, all other factors remaining equal. In reality, however, there is a
bit of randomization which may allow it to move less than some full boards.
Looks like sh*t, though, just to compensate for the "stability."

It doesn't need to. One should be able to rip, joint and reglue without
disturbing the grain noticeably.

I showed in a message above what can be done, and I'm doing another in a
couple days out of Mahogany. You won't be able to tell.

The whole flipping growth rings (up, down, up)--if that's what you mean--is
a myth. Just place them for best looks.

MikeW

"George" George@least wrote in message
...

"D Steck" wrote in message
...
Okay correct me if I'm wrong (which I'm sure you all will), but I'd swear
I read on the wreck or heard David Marks say on his show, that if you're
going to use a really wide piece of wood, that you should split it, let
is sit for a few days, and then joint it and glue it back together in
order to release the tension in it. The theory is that over time, a wide
piece of wood will move a great deal and by splitting it, you can get it
to move more quickly and have a more stable piece in the future.

You may be right about David Marks, but if he meant it to apply to _any_
wide board, he was wrong. It's the orientation of the growth rings, their
placement and spacing which make the difference.

A piece of wood made up of narrow boards will move as much as a single
board, all other factors remaining equal. In reality, however, there is a
bit of randomization which may allow it to move less than some full
boards. Looks like sh*t, though, just to compensate for the "stability."

"Mike W" mwenz *@* wenzloff.com wrote in message
news:lvUFe.13381$Eo3.9710@trnddc08...
It doesn't need to. One should be able to rip, joint and reglue without
disturbing the grain noticeably.

I showed in a message above what can be done, and I'm doing another in a
couple days out of Mahogany. You won't be able to tell.

The whole flipping growth rings (up, down, up)--if that's what you
mean--is a myth. Just place them for best looks.

Well, would that be "many" or one board you're using?.

As long as we're at the dance, the reason you would rip and rejoin is to
break the tight rings around the heart, where the rate of curvature is the
highest. As luck would have it, the grain there is quartered, making an
easy re-match possible. To make more than two boards to be reglued wouldn't
do a bit of good, so I'm sure that's not what you mean.

If you do, get out and read Hoadley.

"George" George@least wrote in message
...

"Mike W" mwenz *@* wenzloff.com wrote in message
news:lvUFe.13381$Eo3.9710@trnddc08...
It doesn't need to. One should be able to rip, joint and reglue without
disturbing the grain noticeably.

I showed in a message above what can be done, and I'm doing another in a
couple days out of Mahogany. You won't be able to tell.

The whole flipping growth rings (up, down, up)--if that's what you
mean--is a myth. Just place them for best looks.

Well, would that be "many" or one board you're using?.

As long as we're at the dance, the reason you would rip and rejoin is to
break the tight rings around the heart, where the rate of curvature is the
highest. As luck would have it, the grain there is quartered, making an
easy re-match possible. To make more than two boards to be reglued
wouldn't
do a bit of good, so I'm sure that's not what you mean.

If you do, get out and read Hoadley.



How about forgettng the joiner and hand plane one side roughly flat . The
easiest way I have found to do this is to use a scrub plane across the
grain.
Having done this run it through a planer with the just flattened side on the
bed . Keep runnung it through the planer until the whole side is finished .
flip and resurface the rough handplaned surface. Now leave it for a few
days to let it stabilize, then recheck for flatness , if not, repeat the
process until it is . don't forget to store when complete upright or at
least where both sides get the same air exposure .....mjh

"mike hide" wrote in message
news:Nd-dnTXsqcjDl3TfRVn- How about forgettng the joiner and hand plane one
side roughly flat . The
easiest way I have found to do this is to use a scrub plane across the
grain.
Having done this run it through a planer with the just flattened side on
the
bed . Keep runnung it through the planer until the whole side is finished
.
flip and resurface the rough handplaned surface. Now leave it for a few
days to let it stabilize, then recheck for flatness , if not, repeat the
process until it is . don't forget to store when complete upright or at
least where both sides get the same air exposure .....mjh


Less the "keep runnung," the way I do things. Nonetheless, if you have
strongly curved annual rings in one area of the board, smart money breaks
the continuity.