Up to now I have been buying my lumber S4S. I recently purchased a 12" planer and have a 6" jointer. I'll true the face of any boards less than 6" on the jointer and then plane to thickness. How do I handle boards wider than 6"? Will the chatter marks on the rough cut lumber impede getting a smooth surface if I run it through the planer as is? I could experiment, but why mess up a decent board?
Larry
You can plane right away.. but it will only make the board smooth, not flat.
A planer will take out cup (you maya have to alternatively take a nibble off each fave if the board is thin or baddly cupped), but it will not remove bow or twist.
If your stock if pretty straight and you're not too really anal, it will work just fine. I have an 8" jointer but bump into the same problem occaisionally. If I want, say a 10" wide (unspliced) single piece of wood for a pannel, I'll just go directly to the planer (or mitigate as stated below).
Alternatives are:
If the board's not too much wider than the jointer's capacity (25% maybe?) and the grain not too argumentative, I'll pull off the guard and make a few light passes while turning the board fore and aft. I can usually get an acceptable/consistant face that'll allow the planer to flatten the other side just fine, then turn her over and plane the originally jointed face. Or just rip down to the jointer's width, mill then glue as StephenM wrote. Tom
With a simple jig you can use a planer to flatten a board.
If the board is relative straight and flat you can go straight to the plainer. I did that for years. I not, you may be better off using a jig on the TS to straighten the board and rip it to the capacity of the jointer.
And there is the option of buying S2S which has already been flattened and is considerably cheaper than S4S.
Forget about the jointer and run the boards through the planer only, flipping the board between passes. There are certain guidelines to follow (in terms of board shape, thickness, hardness etc) when using a surface planer but a well-tuned planer should handle rough-cut lumber with ease. Dust collection helps.
I would have to agree. I just planed out a piece of walnut that was cupped. I planed a flat on one side, not fully smooth and then flipped it and took very light passes until I was planing the full board, then back over and cleaned up the first side. The result was a flat board with two smooth and flat sides.
Deb
Lest there be any confusion over the meaning of the term "flattened", let's be specific: S2S lumber has been *planed* on two faces. It has *not* been jointed.
Correct, flattened, not straightened. Straightening can easily be and very accurately done on the TS with a "long sled type taper joint jig", if the wood is flat.
And this works more often than not if there is generally only one of a few issues with the board. This is pretty much impossible if the board is longer and has a bend from end to end and or a twist.
That said, I use a 8' long sled to set my rough cut wood on when sending it throught my 15" planer.
That is the only accurate and safe way to deal with this. Not a big deal to make ether.
Dr. Deb wrote: ...
That only works if the piece thickness is sufficient to prevent the planer feed roller pressure from deforming (flattening) the piece. Otherwise, one will end up w/ a board of uniform thickness but still cupped.
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Pull off the guard on a jointer? Do you have ANY idea how incredibly dangerous that is? That guard does more than just cover that meat-grinder. It is also an anti-kick-back device.
That cutter will pull your hand IN and there will be no hope of anybody sewing a bucket of slime back onto your wrist.
Wow, I would never remove a jointer guard! There are safer (and wiser) methods.
But aren't you supposed to remove the guard to use the ledge to make rabbets on a joiner? Of course, the fence should be positioned to cover the unused portion of the blade.
The cutterhead guard on my jointer would never do anything to prevent kick back.
To use the jointer to cut a rabbet the owner's manual states,
"Rabbet Cut: A rabbet cut is a groove cut along the long edge of the wood stock, usually used for making simple joints.
The cutterhead guard must be removed for this operation, so great ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ care is needed for safe operation."
Trying to make rabbets with a joiner is a very poor choice of tools for a task IMHO.
Lew
No pinching cam action?
I have never seen that done in real life. I can see it will work, but why do it?
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