I just got myself a thickness planer, but I still don't own a jointer.
I have some 8/4 purpleheart stock that has a crook in it. I'd like to be able to rip it, but I need to straighten it first. I've seen/read some good info here on how to use the table saw to straighten it out and also suggestions about using hand planers to straighten it out. This all makes sense. Given the fact that it's 8/4 wood (bulky)I probably won't try using the table saw to straighten this time, but I bet I could get it pretty straight with some hand tools.
But I was wondering. The wood is about 6 feet long, 6" wide, and 2" tall. The crook is maybe a 1/2" deep at 6 feet. I am going to cut it into 3 24" lengths. So the crook will not be too significant at that point. Could I turn it on its side and run it through my planer to remove the crook? By this I mean use the planer to surface the side that I ultimately would put against the rip fence. It seems like this would work, but maybe I am missing something?
If people think this is a bad idea I'm not attached to it, just thinking it'd save me some effort, and making sure I'm not missing a safety concern or something.
"In like a banana, out like a banana"
A planer won't make a crooked board straight. It will just make a thinner crooked board. Use a taper / ripping jig at the tablesaw to straighten one edge.
Once you are S4S, running an edge through the planer is a great way to clean up the cut. I do that all the time.
It's ok to run it on edge but the bottom edge should
be square and relatively straight. You can screw, nail
or glue guide strips to a crooked bottom edge, or
snap a straight line bandsaw it straight enough.
If it is not too bulky to run thorough the bandsaw I would draw a line and start there. But it just might bust your blade. Next I would use a long straight edge and run a router bit to get it perfectly straight. It being 8/4 that wont get you all the way through. You can then flip the board and use a router with a long bit. Use the just cut top side of the edge as your guide. The advantage of the bandsaw is that it can get off most of the waste first.
Get a jointer. That is the job it does and does very well. Everything else is either dangerous, 6' length of heavy 8/4 stock on a bandsaw table, or super involved like some of the other suggestions. Get the right tool for the job and it will serve you well for a long time.
Careful, the AnneTMcGuire post is gibberish and the link is probably either spam or malware.
Use a jointer sled through the planer. I have a ~6ft long 1" thick piece of melamine shelving the width of my planer with a stop block screwed in at the back end (to counter cutting force) and a stop block attached with double sided tape put at the front end of the board being cut (to counter feed roller force). The more square the down edge is to the face the better. Shim gaps of the bottom edge to the sled so the board won't flex from the down force from the planer. Take light cuts. The biggest issue is whether your planer has 7" of vertical travel. If not, make one rip cut to 2 narrower boards, and then joint 2 boards. Find the high point of the surface to be planed and set the planer accordingly. A high spot in the middle or back end of the board results in a deep cut if the planer is set to the front edge. I have done this numerous times.
Why not cut it to rough length first? Then use the TS to straighten one side of each piece.
If you have 3 lengths, a couple passes through the planer to straighten the edges should be no problem, if needed.
Keep the grain on all three pieces oriented so that the planer cuts with the grain.
I missed the 24" length - definitely cut to length as the 1st step, perhaps most of the crook ends up in one piece.. If they will fit through your planer, all 3 could be jointed at the same time. Ripping a 2' long piece on a table saw may get it straight enough. Another possibility is a "rip sled" on the TS. Something similar to this Charles Neil taper jig:
All those suggestions will take more time than it would take to just have a few swipes of the hand plane.
Cut it a bit oversized in length to 24". Straighten one side with a hand plane. Send it through the table saw to rip the opposite edge. Flip it over and square up the hand planed edge. Done. Only takes a few minutes total for all 3 pieces.
I have a jointer but for crooked boards I use double-sided tape to adhere a straight edge (I use a long piece of aluminum) to the board, which acts as a guide to run against the tablesaw rip fence.
I flatten the first face on the jointer just enough to thickness plane, then thickness plane both sides, then cut edges on the tablesaw. This works best for me.
Bandit,
Not everyone has an aircraft carrier in their shop. That is the quickest way to edge a board, though.
But, I have an over abundance of electrons and need to kill off a few.
I have a jointer but for crooked boards I use double-sided tape to adhere a straight edge (I use a long piece of aluminum) to the board, which acts as a guide to run against the tablesaw rip fence.
I flatten the first face on the jointer just enough to thickness plane, then thickness plane both sides, then cut edges on the tablesaw. This works best for me.
+1 to rough length, followed by the TS, or hand planes. If you want to run them through the planer on edge after that, run them all through at the same time, side by side, it'll be more stable.
In case it isn't obvious (I haven't seen it said yet, if so, sorry)...You will waste more wood jointing a 6' and then rough cutting it than you will rough cutting it and then jointing 3 2-foot sections. Rough cut to within reason (i.e. leave smaller parts together so they can be milled safely), then mill.
I vote for the sled. I have done this a lot with 4/4 rough lumber. 8/4 would be a little harder but a good rip blade and a simple straight jig woul yield a straight side.
I've screwed 2 scrap boards that were a little larger, with straight edges, to either side and sent them thru. As they planed down, the block between them was trued. Faster for me then finding my hand plane.
Are we still talking about skinning catfish? Because the fastest way is to nail its head to a tree and skin it down. Nothing really compares to be honest.
After I cut everything to length, it was straight enough to run through the table saw without any special sleds or anything. But this is still all good info since I'll be doing projects with similarly-warped lumber that isn't short in the near future. Thanks for all the help.
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