Is there a best practice for rough dimensioning rough cut lumber? Is it better to use the the band saw to reduce the amount of wood wasted in cutting vs using the table saw for more precision cuts?
scribble
Say you have a 12" wide board and need boards that are 2.5" wide when all jointing and planing operations are done. Do you start by cutting the 12" board to 2.75 on the band saw or table saw the joint an edge and then final dimension on table saw
Yeah pretty much. I surface all sides. Mainly getting it to final thickness, letting that sit for a week or two. The cut it down from there.
If it's a smaller project I just thickness it then rip and chop it all at once.
I prefer not to cut it up before jointing unless I'm gonna lose too much thickness on the stock by doing so. That is pretty much the only reason I'd cut it down.
If it's a smaller project I just thickness it then rip and chop it all at once.
I prefer not to cut it up before jointing unless I'm gonna lose too much thickness on the stock by doing so. That is pretty much the only reason I'd cut it down.
I follow what you are saying. I deal with this all the time. The way I work is that the key is to joint one edge, so you have a true straight line to run against a fence. I use the table saw myself, but a well tuned band saw with a fence would work too.
I would then rip the pieces at least 1/8" oversize, in your case 2-7/8". The reason is that the flat edge you jointed isn't necessarily square to the face of the board, so when you joint the face flat, and then square the edge to it on the jointer, you need some spare wood. I generally run the board through the planer at this point to get it flat, then rip the opposite edge square to the true final dimension. Whether you rip first, then plane shouldn't be significant, but the idea is to get one smooth face, and one edge square to it before you continue.
It depends on the grain direction. Generally
to correct for wiley grain that runs off the
board a good practice is to divide up a
large board with a lumber crayon, crosscut,
then band saw parallel to the grain on each
piece if needed. Then the edge is straightened
on the jointer and ripped so the other edge
is parallel on the table saw.
This sort of approach is sometimes eliminated
in less careful cabinet work, but it can work
wonders for the appearance of door and
face frames, table skirts and so forth.
When making larger panels however often
it doesn't make economic sense to be
so selective and in any case, contrasting
grain patterns aren't that distracting when
glued up if some care is taken in laying
the parts out next to each other to see
how the grain and color of the parts
go together.
to correct for wiley grain that runs off the
board a good practice is to divide up a
large board with a lumber crayon, crosscut,
then band saw parallel to the grain on each
piece if needed. Then the edge is straightened
on the jointer and ripped so the other edge
is parallel on the table saw.
This sort of approach is sometimes eliminated
in less careful cabinet work, but it can work
wonders for the appearance of door and
face frames, table skirts and so forth.
When making larger panels however often
it doesn't make economic sense to be
so selective and in any case, contrasting
grain patterns aren't that distracting when
glued up if some care is taken in laying
the parts out next to each other to see
how the grain and color of the parts
go together.
Some ww'ers rough cut their lumber to width before surfacing. In this case, a bandsaw is the safest machine to use. BS is not primarily used to save lumber.
First principle is "Never, ever cut rough lumber to final dims". Basically you are gradually milling stock down correcting for any cups/bows etc that continue during acclimation.
There are numerous resources on YouTube and Fine WoodWorking magazine.
Basically, here is the procedure I use:
1. Cut to rough lengths. I use a circular saw or jigsaw. I keep mulitiple short pieces in one board for surfacing the cut to length later.
2. Face joint one side. Concave sides down.
3. Edge joint one side.
4. Surface other side.
5. Rip to rough width on TS
6. Sticker and let acclimate for 2-3 days.
Shoot for at least 2 thickness millings. This allows for acclimation and rejointing face/edges.
Keep widths big to allow for correcting a bow (wide the board, more the allowance). Narrow boards 1/4", wide boards maybe up to 1".
When I'm ready to start assembling project, I will re-joint lightly one more time, then re-rip to exact dims, leaving a bit of room (1/32) for hand planing because in furniture projects I like the look.
One very crucial thing is make sure all matching parts go through the planer at once along with a couple pieces of scrap if needed for set up purposes.
Hope this helps.
I keep table top thicknesses heavy until right before use.
First principle is "Never, ever cut rough lumber to final dims". Basically you are gradually milling stock down correcting for any cups/bows etc that continue during acclimation.
There are numerous resources on YouTube and Fine WoodWorking magazine.
Basically, here is the procedure I use:
1. Cut to rough lengths. I use a circular saw or jigsaw. I keep mulitiple short pieces in one board for surfacing the cut to length later.
2. Face joint one side. Concave sides down.
3. Edge joint one side.
4. Surface other side.
5. Rip to rough width on TS
6. Sticker and let acclimate for 2-3 days.
Shoot for at least 2 thickness millings. This allows for acclimation and rejointing face/edges.
Keep widths big to allow for correcting a bow (wide the board, more the allowance). Narrow boards 1/4", wide boards maybe up to 1".
When I'm ready to start assembling project, I will re-joint lightly one more time, then re-rip to exact dims, leaving a bit of room (1/32) for hand planing because in furniture projects I like the look.
One very crucial thing is make sure all matching parts go through the planer at once along with a couple pieces of scrap if needed for set up purposes.
Hope this helps.
I keep table top thicknesses heavy until right before use.
When rough cutting lumber, use whatever tool is best for the size and thickness of lumber being cut. For a very long, wide, heavy piece, I'd rough cut to length with a jig saw or circular saw. Then, if I'm using most of the board's width and it fits on my jointer, I'd flatten and mill it as described above. If it won't fit on my jointer, I'll rough cut to width using a track saw or band saw, then mill it.
Scribble specifically asked about starting with a 12" wide board. Short of him having a 12" jointer, he needed another approach, and ripping pieces slightly oversize is one of them.
Bandsaw for ripping will chew up less wood and less chance of kickback.
But if I were ripping the 12 inch wide board (which will likely have some cupping to it) yes I would rip it oversize (width) rather than try to joint 12 inches flat… just to make 2.5 inch wide boards out of it.
I would adjust just how "oversize" base on how many boards I need to get.
in your 12 inch wide for 2.5 inch boards example…. you will only get 4 boards. certainly at least 1/8 in width extra needed, so you can joint one edge and rip to final with.
But if I were ripping the 12 inch wide board (which will likely have some cupping to it) yes I would rip it oversize (width) rather than try to joint 12 inches flat… just to make 2.5 inch wide boards out of it.
I would adjust just how "oversize" base on how many boards I need to get.
in your 12 inch wide for 2.5 inch boards example…. you will only get 4 boards. certainly at least 1/8 in width extra needed, so you can joint one edge and rip to final with.
So here is what my thought is and correct me if you think I should do this a differnt way. I need boards 2 7/16" wide by 3/4" thick by 28 1/4" long. I am planning on cutting up my 12" wide X 8' long board into 30" long sections to make it more manageable. I then set up the band saw to cut 2 3/4" wide. i will then joint a face and edge and then plane to final thickness and final width on table saw.
If it were me, I'd do what you suggest, but joint 6" wide boards. After planing, I'd rip the boards to final length. It's just easier and more efficient to joint half as many boards and limit the number of band saw rips for more accurate table saw rips.
I plane the top/bottom, let things sit for a week or so (usually because I have other things that I'm working on at the same time), rough cut the boards to length, THEN joint one edge, rip the other edge to final width, then square both ends. I rough cut the length before jointing the edge because the shorter boards are easier to handle and less wood has to be removed. With an 8' board you might lose 1/2" or more if you try to joint the whole board. That wastes time, material, and energy. You will also get a better edge with shorter pieces since they aren't as difficult to run through the joiner.
I was just listening to an episode of 360 woodworking. IIRC, they were saying that in a professional shop, you never mill close to dimension, let it sit, and then mill to final dimensions.
They did suggest moving straight to construction once you've milled, and that if you're going to let it sit for days/weeks, then don't mill to final dimensions.
I found that interesting.
They did suggest moving straight to construction once you've milled, and that if you're going to let it sit for days/weeks, then don't mill to final dimensions.
I found that interesting.
That's a great site. It's where I heard Glen Huey talk about planers and tear out, and how taking shallow cuts causes more tear out than taking a full cut. I had always snuck up on the final dimension in 1/64 and 1/128 inch increments. I just figured the tear was a function of my DW733 two blade planer. I took his advice and started taking up to 1/16" cuts and the tear out went away.
I know helical heads do great, but I plan to make do with what I have for now.
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