On 20 Jan 2005 13:40:37 -0800, "
wrote:

I am buying alot of quartersawn white oak in the rough and I had a
question. I need to mill it in my Delta 12" planner but since both the
top and bottom are rough is there a proper way to ensure I have a flat
board when I finish milling it. The lumber does not have a smooth
surface on the bottom when I first put it into the planer but I want to
make sure that it remains flat as I mill it so when it it flipped over
to do the other side the board is flat or does it matter.
Thanks,
Mike

All boards are cupped, but for some you must put a straight edge
across the width to be able to tell which way.

When you have determined which side is the high side, put that side up
when feeding it into the planer. You say that your boards are
quartersawn but they probably still have an apparent grain direction.
Feed them into the planer so that the blade will hit them on the
upslope of the grain - that is "going with the grain" - this will save
you from most tearout.

When you have run the high side off of your board, flip it over and
plane the other side. It is important to try to take equal amounts of
wood from each face, as boards usually have a different level of
moisture in the center and running more of the wood off of one face
than the other will reinstitute the cup.

When you are done you should stack the wood, rather than stand it up
or leave individual pieces sitting unstacked. If your wood is still
reasonably green, you should separate the boards with "stickers" which
are pieces of stock that have achieved their equilibrium moisture
content, I prefer rips of ply - but don't use cherry, because it will
stain the oak. Softwood ply rips will not be a problem and, if you
have any mdf rips, they are perfect.

Weight the stack, or band it, if you have that ability. If you choose
banding, and your stock was juicey to begin with, you will have to
reband as it loses moisture.


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