Owen Lawrence wrote:
First off, note my moniker :^)

First, get a new moniker; this one's holding you back.

Nah, it's more just to signal my level of experience in this forum.
I won't let it hold me back.

Second, please no replies of "buy a jointer." :^)

Borrow?

Mmmm, might be a possibility.

actually shut the saw down and manually pulled the board back out;
could see that the wood was closing up after the kerf, though it
didn't

I've had straight boards do this to me, too. There were internal
stresses
being relieved by removing the material in the kerf, so the opposing
sides
were free to move into that space. Like you, I shut down the saw in
the
middle of the cut. I took a small piece of slightly
larger-than-kerf-thickness stock and wedged it in the gap. Then I
could
start up the saw again and finish the cut. Unlike you, my board
wasn't
doing this because of twist, so it wasn't rocking into the blade.

Interesting solution on your part. But illustrates that it can
happen even w/ a "flat" board. Grain, knots, compression/tension. All
sorts of joyous variables.

I do my best to stand out of the line of fire;

As do I.

The times I have used boards with twist I spent two or three times as
much
effort on the project as I would have with straight boards. Now I'm
more
willing to pay to have my wood milled at my source, and eventually
will
acquire the (power) tools to do it myself.

But how do you ensure that what is "flat" when milled will stay that
way? You can't, I don't think. I can buy rough sawn lumber in town at
a place that mills their own (alot of urban reclaimed trees). ... do
you sticker rough sawn that you buy and bring back to your shop? I've
had boards apparently twist after I get them home; I know, differences
in RH/temp. Is there a way to minimize that based on how I store/stack
'til I'm ready to use? Or just buy them essentially right when I'm
ready to start cutting, is probably the right answer.


Sorry for rambling like this. Hope you get something out of it.

No problem at all. I appreciate people taking the time to answer.
-Chris