Cutting rough lumber

[rjdankert]

This is a followup to my previous post on squaring stock. Thanks for the thoughtfull replies.

I hope this post doesn't go on to long, but I thought I might explain where I'm at. As I said in my first post I am new to woodworking. A litte more that two years ago my cousin and I hired a sawyer to cut red oak trees that we took down to make way for a house. We did all the chainsaw work, cutting the butt logs and the tops for firewood. We did all the grunt work, wrestling the butt logs, carrying off the boards and waste etc. A lot of work for a flabby old grandpa (I turned 60 last month). We ended up with 1700 BF, half my cousins, half mine. We hauled the wood to my house, stacked and stickered it outdoors, painted the ends, and covered the stack with a tarp. It sat outside for one year and was then moved into the gararge. It's been there now for a little more than a year.

Now I want to make my first project with it. I'm going to make a bench top router table. I'm going to build the frame from the oak. Four days ago I picked out a board and went over it with a wire brush followed by a wisk broom. I brought it in and went over it with a shop vac. I then cut the rough lengths with a cicular saw. Next I jointed an edge and ripped the rough widths on the table saw. The pieces are now sitting on by bench.

I'm mostly concerned about the safety of the way I cut the rough pieces. Also, I don't have a moisture meter, so I am just assuming I can square the stock after being inside for a few days.

Thanks for comments on any of the above.

Bob

[Dr. Deb]

ASSUMING you had the sawyer cut your boards 1"+ thick your boards SHOULD be exactly the right dryness for your locale. So, you merely need to plane it and use it. I buy my ash (green) from a local lumber yard, stack and sticker it for a year and it is good to go. Your oak should be the same.

If your feel more comfortable knowing the exact moisture content, which you cannot change anyway, unless you have a kiln, a moisture meterfrom Harbor Freight is not that expensive. However, if you want to merely check this batch, don't want to wait forever for HF to send the item and are a bit cheap, there is another method using your multimeter. If you want more details, get back to me.

Deb

[tom]

[B A R R Y]

I don't rip rough stock on a table saw, I use a bandsaw or hand saw.

If you need to use the table saw, make sure it's got a splitter or riving knife, and that the surfaces against the table top and fence have been "kind-of" surfaced on the jointer.

[Pat Barber]

If the wood is "really" rough, skip plane it prior to ripping.(very light pass knocking down the fuzz)

If you have a jointer big enough, you can flatten the stock and use the flat side for the ripping.

It's as dry as it's going to get with your methods.

You should be f> This is a followup to my previous post on squaring stock. Thanks for

[Bill]

On Wed, 11 Oct 2006 09:28:19 -0500, Dr. Deb wrote: However, if you want to merely check this

I'd be mightily interested in learning about the multimeter technique myself.

Post it here?

Bill

[bf]

Another option for ripping is the Join-R-clamp system, which is pretty inexpensive (around $20).. Basically, it lets you clamp the rough lumber to a straightedge (like a piece of plywood), and then you put the straightedge against the tablesaw fence.

The way I do it is to plane to thickness.. Cut little bit oversize. Most of the time, I can just a jointer to get a straight edge.. You get less waste if you trim to size before ripping, instead of trying to put a straight edge along the entire 8' board.