Hi All
I see many patterns call for 1/2" wood, how do I achieve this when my local
lumber yard sells 4/4 and larger?

thanks in advance
Sandie

"Sandie C" wrote in message
...
Hi All
I see many patterns call for 1/2" wood, how do I achieve this when my
local
lumber yard sells 4/4 and larger?

thanks in advance
Sandie


A planer. Or even better, assuming that any wood that you buy will not be
perfectly flat, a jointer then a planer. Or I guess you could forget about
your local lumber yard and buy from some company that sells thinner stock --
Steve Wall comes to mind immediately since I've bought 1/4" cherry from them
to save myself all the work and waste of producing it myself.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

Resaw with tablesaw or bandsaw, Or run thru a planer till the correct
thickness

You could also do this with handtools, but it is a major PITA for more
than the smallest pieces of wood

John

On Wed, 02 Jun 2004 22:21:50 GMT, "Sandie C"
wrote:

Hi All
I see many patterns call for 1/2" wood, how do I achieve this when my local
lumber yard sells 4/4 and larger?

thanks in advance
Sandie

On Wed, 02 Jun 2004 22:21:50 +0000, Sandie C wrote:

Hi All
I see many patterns call for 1/2" wood, how do I achieve this when my
local lumber yard sells 4/4 and larger?

1) resaw using a bandsaw
2) plane using a power planer
3) plane using hand planes (also can be incorporated into body buiding)
4) move to Arizona desert and nail boards on fence. 3/4" cedar was
reduced to 1/2" cedar in three years for me :-)
5) find another source - my local guy sells smaller pieces in 1/2"
thickness.

-Doug

--
"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always
depend on the support of Paul." - George Bernard Shaw

Thanks for the replies
seems to me I have to spend a ton of moeny either way...

"Sandie C" wrote in message
...
Hi All
I see many patterns call for 1/2" wood, how do I achieve this when my
local
lumber yard sells 4/4 and larger?

thanks in advance
Sandie

Sandie C wrote:
Thanks for the replies
seems to me I have to spend a ton of moeny either way...
Sandie

There will always be a good excuse to spend money. I made some things with
the 3/4" boards from Home Depot for a long time. they one day it is just not
good enough. You want what looks right, what fits right, what a
professional would do. That is when the bandsaw and planer come into play.

If you are serous about the hobby, the good tools will last you for many
happy years.

--
Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

Not really. Have a HS or JC shop nearby? Or, meet someone who has a planer
and offer a six pack of something or a few BF of the lumber for the
courtesy.

"Sandie C" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the replies
seems to me I have to spend a ton of moeny either way...

Sandie C wrote:

Hi All
I see many patterns call for 1/2" wood, how do I achieve this when my local
lumber yard sells 4/4 and larger?

thanks in advance
Sandie

I know my local Orange Borg (HD) sells 1/2" stock. They have a "hobby"
section in the better lumber department. Also check out hobby and craft
stores. Good hunting.
mahalo,
jo4hn

I know my local Orange Borg (HD) sells 1/2" stock. They have a "hobby"
section in the better lumber department. Also check out hobby and craft
stores. Good hunting.
mahalo,
jo4hn
====================================
ROTFLMAO..... for the price they want for their "thin" stock I get
sick... REAL SICK....

Bob Griffiths

Bob G. wrote:
====================================
ROTFLMAO..... for the price they want for their "thin" stock I get
sick... REAL SICK....

I love to stand around the bin and say things like, "Wow, that comes to over
$6/bf for that! I'm glad I only spent $2/bf ."

Sandie C wrote:
Hi All
I see many patterns call for 1/2" wood, how do I achieve this when my
local lumber yard sells 4/4 and larger?

I just recently went through this with my brother. He wanted a bunch of
1/2" oak to face out some cabinets he was making. After calculating the
costs, we ended up buying 5/4 oak and had the mill resaw it and put a good
edge on it. The cost of the material ended up being less (2 boards out of
1) than if I had bought 4/4 and planed it. *Much* less waste, as well.
Mark

At a minimum jointing and planing has to be done if you add in resawing,
depending on the thickness of the rough cut stock, you can stretch a bit
more use out of a board.

Tools. Resawing would be a band saw though the job can be done of a table
saw assuming low enough stock. jointing and planing can be done with hand
tools or power jointer and planer.

Pros and cons

Most hardwood suppliers will mill stock for you for an additional charge.

Rough cut stock is cheaper then milled S2S or S4S stock.

Even equipping yourself with hand tools to do the job can, one way or
another, carry a fairly high price tag.

You pretty much have to be going through a large amount of stock to realize
a savings in lumber costs over the cost of the tools to true stock in
anything like a reasonable amount of time.

Milling stock to size, even with power tools, can be a time consuming and
boring task.

As you noted, 4/4 is usually the thinnest stock you can buy off the shelf.

Seldom will you get really true stock from a supplier. That is, stock with
no warp and all sides are parallel to the others and at 90 degrees to it's
joining edges.


Really trued stock is a dream to work with. Having stock that is exactly X
inches wide and long, all the sides are at Y degrees to their adjoining
sides, and parallel to their opposites, leads to easier assembly with all
the pieces coming together as they should and tighter better looking joints.

--
Mike G.

Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"Sandie C" wrote in message
...
Hi All
I see many patterns call for 1/2" wood, how do I achieve this when my
local
lumber yard sells 4/4 and larger?

thanks in advance
Sandie

Greetings and Salutations.

On Wed, 02 Jun 2004 22:21:50 GMT, "Sandie C"
wrote:

Hi All
I see many patterns call for 1/2" wood, how do I achieve this when my local
lumber yard sells 4/4 and larger?

thanks in advance
Sandie


Well, how about these alternatives:
1) Get 5/4 wood and resaw it half thickness. If you DON'T
have a bandsaw this is a great excuse to BUY one (any excuse to
get a new tool). The exact thickness will come as a side effect
of smoothing the wood down to get rid of the saw marks.
2) I am sure that the lumber yard will be MORE than
happy to plane the wood down to 1/2" for you. They either will
do it for free, or, for a nominal charge.
3) Redesign the project to use 3/4" wood.
Regards
Dave Mundt