"Perfect Board" Exercise

Re: "Perfect Board" Exercise

Thomas S Stockton

>Is this the exercize were you take a rough board and make it flat square and parralell in all diemesions with hand planes.I took one of their summer courses years ago and have done that exercize in all the other schools I attended so my technique wouldn't be the same since it has been altered by others ideas of how to do it. The fun part was that when your done you get to cut it up and turn it into a coopered panel and use the round bottom plane you just built.

Here's how I remember doing it although I'm sure others would have different versions.

1. flatten one face

2. using that face scribe a line around the edges so the second face is parralell.

3. flatten second face to the marked line

4.joint one edge making sure it is square to faces

5.scribe a line parrallel to that edge

6.joint second edge

7. using shooting board square up 1 end then the other.

You really need only two tools to do this a marking gauge and a plane although a scrub plane can be useful it isn't neccessary

Now your done, sounds easy it isn't the first time can take a day or more especially when everything is being checked with a straight edge. The exercise is good because every step has to be done right and in order or you will compound problems.

Ian Kirby is also a big proponent of this(so I'm told).

I hope this is what your after otherwise ignore it.

Tom

Re: "Perfect Board" Exercise

Denis Ch�nard, Orl�ans, Ont.

>The exercise I did at Rosewood Studio (run at the time by Ted Brown, a CR alumni) was less thorough than Thomas'.

What we did was to get one face flat and smooth, make one edge square to that face, then one end square to both the face and edge. Looks simple, but the judging was brutal...

DC

Stock Preparation

Warren in Lancaster, PA

>I find it odd to call this stock preparation an exercise- I have done this work for every board for many years. I think Charles Hayward and Ian Kirby give particularly good outlines and discussions of preparation.

Although the six sides can be planed in various orders, most people start with the face side, followed by the face edge. One disadvantage of Thomas' schedule where the side parallel the face side is planed second is that when marking the thickness with the marking gauge, you are marking on rough-sawn surfaces which is somewhat clumsy. It is also harder to see the line clearly on a rough-sawn edge than it is on an edge that is already trued up.

Re: Stock Preparation

Joel

>This exercise is a pretty common traditional training task. You pretty much see it all the early textbooks for school programs and it's in the Sloyd program too.

Re: Stock Preparation

Thomas S Stockton

>True about the rough sawn edge but a couple of swipes with a plane take care of the problem. I think part of the thought behind the exercise is to get people thinking how when working with wood there are certain steps to follow and how they interact and influence each other.

Tom

Re: "Perfect Board" Exercise

Thomas S Stockton

>Denis,

now that you jogged my memory I think that is what we did also it's a little easier and takes less time. The judging is brutal and the teachers know exactly what to look for.

Tom

Re: Stock Preparation

Paul Kierstead

>I also like the reference face followed by the reference edge. I think the main reason I like it is that sometimes I may not fully joint the other edge or face, but I am almost always going to do 2 of them. Of course often I flatten the other face by power thickness planer, too be fair.

I think demanding 2 edges, 90 degrees to the reference face and perfectly parallel is a good exercise. It can be kind of tricky sometimes; you have to be very careful in which parts you knock down to avoid getting a wedge (well, very slight wedge, but still).

Google: FEWTEL

Andrew F in Australia

>Hi Larry,

THis is common

dress a Face flat

dress an Edge square to the face

mark the Width and dress the board to width

gauge the Thickness and dress the board to thickness

shoot one End square

mark Length and shoot the other end

Cheers,

Andrew

Re: Stock Preparation

Charles

>Good point, anybody advocating using a marking gauge on a still roughsawn edge obviously doesn't prepare stock by hand day in and day out.

You can true the edges in the 'traditional' order of operations, but you can swipe them with a jack plane to smooth them enough to be able to see the mark.

Re: Google: FEWTEL

Charles

>You don't want to final dress any edge until the board is brought to finished thickness. You risk tearing out the edge as you are planing the non-face side to finished thickness. This is especially true if you are having to remove a lot of material and are using a scrubber or a profoundly cambered jack.

Jack the edges so you can see your marking gauge marks. Plane one face flat and true. Mark the board for thickness. Plane the other side flat while bringing it to finished thickness. Dress a true edge. Mark the board for width off the true edge and rip it to width. Square up an end registering off the true edge and crosscut the other end to finished length.

Re: Stock Preparation

Bill Lowrance in Geneva

>Prepping stock like this must have been what apprentices and assistants spent a lot of their time doing back in various older eras, with cruder tools. Wouldn't want to arm-wrestle 'em...

Re: Google: FEWTEL

Andrew F in Australia

>Hi Charles,

While I see the logic and point in your post, I'll admit that I've never had a problem preparing stock this way.

(this is the traditional training for UK/Aust cabinetmakers and has been used for the last two hundred years or so.)

Cheers,

Andrew

Re: Google: FEWTEL

Charles

>It is a lousy feeling indeed to blow out a dressed edge when planing the opposite face flat and to thickness. All it takes is a little wavy grain close to the edge to ruin your day - especially if the board has already been brought to finished width or was close to start with.

Re: "Perfect Board" Exercise

Larry in SC

>Thanks Thomas.