I have my eye on a 28” wide X 100” long African Mahoginy board.
This will work perfectly for a particular case piece I am to build that asks for 22”w X 36”L sides. One board for the sides sure will be nice.
My problem is squaring up the lumber. I don’t possess a jointer plane, and probably lack the skill to flatten it that way also.
I’m thinking of ripping the board so I can manage it with my 13” planer as I have a sled I built turning it into a jointer. Dressing the lumber up and then re-glueing the board together???
I have a bunch of hickory that I wanted planed down from rough cut. A local hardwood dealer is going to plane it for me for 50 cents per board foot. See if there is a local mill that will do the work for you and keep your board in one piece.
I'm not a great fan of ripping wide boards down and gluing them back together, but flattening a wide board that is cupped or twisted, or both, more often than not results in the loss of a lot of material. You end up with a much thinner board than you started with. Less material is lost flattening narrow boards. For this reason, it sometimes makes sense to rip a wide board into narrower pieces before flattening it and then gluing it back together. Be aware, though, that you must re-joint the edges after the board is flattened to make sure it goes back together flat. The original edges are no longer square with the face of the board after it is flattened. With a board the size of yours, the process would be easier if you cut the big board to rough lengths first.
If you don't have a jointer, you can get a straight edge on you table saw by attaching a straight board to your wide board with the straight edge extending beyond the wide board's edge. Run the straight edge against your table saw fence, then turn the board around and rip the other edge parallel. Again, this is a lot easier if you cut your wide board to rough lengths first.
It should not be hard to find some business with a 24" planer, and not any problem getting them to plane new commercial lumber.
Personally I would not go to much effort to make a case side from one board. Case sides are rarely the focal point of case goods. I might work on using such a single board for a case or table top. Frankly I think you may be more enamored by the idea of this board than the result will justify.
If you rip the board down the center you will be rejoining "V" pattern grain and it will not exactly match because you will have removed some material from ripping and jointing. And a near match is not attractive. Again personally, even if I had 10 of these boards available I would be making the 22" case side by attractively gluing two 11" boards. I strive to make the joint attractively contrasting. (see PIC for an example of a two board case side joint)
I think you are right Bill, I am ‘enamoured’ by that board and the thought of a single piece for the case sides. Your idea makes much more sense, and it also allows me to use my jointer and planer set up to manage the wood myself; which I like the idea too.
Beautiful piece by the way, and perfectly illustrates my exact predicament.
Wood that gets your sap up doesn't come along every day and the days are getting farther apart as time goes on. So, buy the board and someday you will build something that it will be a top for. By then you can hand plane it and become acquainted with some with a 24" thickness planer or sander.
I have never regretted buying a special piece of wood. It doesn't have an expiration date.
A maverick table top can be held in submission to the frame beneath. A case side can not be subdued. Wiggling on a case side leaves drawers/doors not working well.
Not understanding. Given the desired size of the side pieces and the size of the board, won't you have to be splitting it in two in any case? Why the glueing back together?. I'd say cut off enough of the big board to make the sides leaving a bit to allow for checks and other defects (maybe 38"), split that piece in half lengthwise, surface it as needed, and then cut the pieces to final size. You'll still have 6+ feet of the wide board left to drool over and you'll have your two sides.
