Use a scrub plane to level, a jack to surface, and a smooth to finish what
was going to show. Everybody used to do it that way. Once a year I do the
same for the kids at school, as much for a history as a woodworking
demonstration. I follow with a machine demo.

Doctrinaire types have difficulty with the obvious - woodworking is a "good
enough" and a "make it fit" activity, not a machine, micrometer and
interchangeable parts production. That's what it means to work by hand -
things go together after fitting, not direct from the machine.

See Jeff Gorman or Patrick Leach's site if you don't have a library or
bookstore.


"Silvan" wrote in message
...
I've got access to a goodly amount of really rough lumber. I've made
crude
things out of the stuff in the past, but I'd like to see what more refined
things I can do with it.

Modern woodworking wisdom would say get a jointer and a planer, but
they're
both expensive and they take up space. I really don't have room for any
more stationary power tools in my shop. Not even mobile/benchtop models.

So I'm thinking about neandering... What would Roy Underhill do with a
rough-sawn oak board?