Flatening wide boards with an"inadequate" jointer

Re: Flatening wide boards with an"inadequate" join

Barry Irby

Yep, you are correct.

I have also taped thin wedges to the high corners to hold them up while passing through the planer.

And I have taped a thin shim down the trough in the board to keep the planer from mashing it flat.

Hand plane is the tool for this job.

Re: Flatening wide boards with an"inadequate" join *LINK*

Bruce, a MN Galoot

Take a look at this


FWW planer sled

Re: Flatening wide boards with an"inadequate" join

Joe in a Cleveland suburb

That's pretty much what I do. I'll flatten one side with a hand plane and winding sticks. Then send it through my old lunchbox Dewalt.

Bill, the color of that cherry is really nice. Can you tell me how you finished it?

Thanks.

No, fundamentally different

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

"That's pretty much what I do. I'll flatten one side with a hand plane and winding sticks". While this approach ensures success at the expense of time with the hand plane, flattening a side is not my objective prior to power planing.

I make no attempt to flatten the hand planed side. My objective is to remove just enough of the high corners that the board sits on my saw table top with out much rocking. I'm done planing when the bottom of the board sits on 4 co-planer points or surfaces. On the 13" wide boards shown in the top I planed about a 10" length by 0-1.5" strip from each high corner. I did not spend more than a minute planing.

All that is necessary is that the board not rock much on the planer bed. In this regard I have an advantage some don't- my 18" planer has a longer bed than a bench top planer.

Perfectly flat is not essential and I do not strive for perfectly flat on a top. Tops with substantial twist can be easily pulled flat on a robust frame, be it a table frame or a case frame. Case side panels, on the other hand, assemble more reliably if they are flat to begin with and I spend more time ensuring they are flat before finish planing. But here again I hand plane just enough to get the board to sit flat on the power planer bed.

Finishing schedule

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

It should come as no surprise that the stain is a pigment stain. For years I used from a quart of ancient Sherwin Williams "American Cherry" stain. Sherwin William and others reformulated in the late 70's to be rid of mineral pigments to be replaced by synthetic pigments. The "Cherry " results ranged from ok to the bazar purple of one manufacturer. I searched for a replacement for years. The result:

9 parts of General "Candlelight" oil stain which is a mineral pigment based stain. But I find it too brown. So I add 1 part of a red cherry that is way to red by itself. I use Benjamin Moore "Cherry" that looks fire engine red to me.

This recipe is more a result of what I could get my hands on at the time. If these products disappeared from my shelf I would achieve the same result with artist mineral pigments dispersed in General neutral conditioner, the base General uses to formulate pigment stains.

The top coat is 2 applications of Sherwin William Kemvar M gloss conversion varnish thinned 1:1. Want a close to the wood appearance? You get it as a result of a thin build of finish, no matter what the finish is. I could have achieved the same result with polyurethane floor varnish or a wipe formulation.

Re: Flatening wide boards with an"inadequate" join *LINK*

Jim Dillon

Bruce, I built a similar jig years ago for planing slightly twisted wide boards. It also works really well and is easy to set up and use. Jim


Planer Sled

Exactly

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

I have about 8 or more sleds in lengths up to 8' that I use either in the planer or the Performax. The sander is slower, of course, but I can flatten 24" wide boards with ease, and it's super for working figured wood without tearouts.

Re: Flatening wide boards with an"inadequate" join

Bruce, a MN Galoot

It doesn’t need to be complicated, though I’ve seen a couple that are. That’s too much work for occasional use. Mine is a dedicated piece of plywood with a stop on one end and a bunch of shims. Screw a couple of battens so the wood doesn’t move and you’re good to go.

Apparently not a gimmick

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I have seen this approach described before and frankly thought it a gimmick. Your 8 sleds has convinced me it must be useful. Success would seem to depend on securing board and the wedges while passing board through the planer.

I keep on hand lots of wedges I have cut as part of preparing tapers for various projects. I have pieces of 3/4" plywood. What are the details of securing the wedges in place under the twisted board?

Re: Apparently not a gimmick

Bruce, a MN Galoot

I just use masking tape to hold them in place. The feed rollers don’t squish them out. The forward motion of the feed rollers ensures that the board will not move in that direction, and battens on the side prevent sideways movement.

I also decide whether to use the planer sled based on how much wood needs to be removed. If the board is small, I just grab my scrub plane and do it by hand, but if there’s a lot of wood to remove, it’s faster to use the sled.

Fixing the Wedges

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

I use tapered shim stock and double-face carpet tape, and an end block to keep the workpiece moving with the sled.

BTW, I use the same rig to make tapered legs. Easy and more precise than band sawing or TS taper jigs.

Re: Fixing the Wedges

Barry Irby

I have used a piece MDF shelving with the Melamine faces. A shelf. It's slick on the bottom to make it slide easily through the planer. Double stick tape, hot glue, even an occasional screw for the wedges. Sometimes wide blue tape wrapped around the edges.

I had not thought of tapering table legs (Duh!), but I did use mine to make a couple of pizza peels. Bill, as much as you like to make those fabulous pizzas, you NEED a peel.

no.....

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

a cookie sheet works just fine, then onto a cooling rack for a few minutes and then onto a pizza pan for cutting and serving. I do like multitaskers.

Re: Apparently not a gimmick

Jim Dillon

On my sled the wedges are fitted into a tapered slot then held in place by a screw just tightened enough to fix the wedge. I hope the pictures make this more clear than my explanation. The two dowels at one end prevent the plank from sliding to the rear. Sandpaper glued to the levelers seems to work fine but for a thin plank I would use double-sided tape to be safe. Jim