Machinery Advice Wanted

[prosmart]

Greetings

I am in the throes of making a few dining rooms tables. The first one I did was a great success but took an age because of a combination of the timber used and the tools available at that time.

Basically I have access to a load of rather old hardwood - the current batch is around two inches thick by around five and a half wide by around four foot long (or if you prefer 50mm x 140mm x 2020mm). They have been taken from an old jetty - in perfect condition but the owners wanted a "new" one. I have no idea what the timber is - it looks like oak, very dense and heavy.

The previous batch I used where thinner - around 30mm and I used them as was. Preparation included de-nailing and then running through my thicknesser. After two pieces I stopped and looked at the thicknesser blades that looked like some madman had taken an axe to them (brand new). When I took them back to Total Tools they told me that I had "obviously" not de-nailed the timber. After I showed the guy a piece of the timber he gave me a new set of blades. In the end I gave away the thicknesser idea and just belt sanded the lot both before and after assembly to get them to a usable finish. In the end (after two weeks) the table was finished (and beautiful) with oil and wax.

This batch is thicker - around 50mm and I want to reduce them to around 25mm. Hmmm I thought, maybe I can cut them through the centre, clean up the edges and then join the edges together. Given my shortage of decent tools, I wanted to know:

Can I use a band saw to split the timbers in two? If so how much do I need to spend on it (budget is limited) and are there any features, accessories, options that I should insist in (I've been salivating over the Carbatec cattle dog).

Given the awful job of belt sanding last time (an the fact that I have a great pile of these and similar pieces), what is the easiest way of sanding the faces and getting the edges true for joining. The first time I used a belt sander on the faces and cut the edges with a table saw and then planed them flat while checking them with a try square. Would it be worth buying a 12" bench disc sander for the heavy sanding?

Is there any easy way of ensuring that a piece of timber is true and all the angles are at 90 degrees. I'm thinking of getting one face flat (from a cut) and then using a router table to get a true edge or do I just use something like a Veritas Iron Edge Trimming Plane or is there a secret method that I have not stumbled on yet?

Sorry for the deluge of questions but I reckon I'm better off asking then being dumb.

Thanks and Regards

Nigel.

[Doughboy]

Nigel not wanting to be picky but would it not be more like

50 x 125 x 1200
2 x 5 x 4 foot

[prosmart]

Nigel not wanting to be picky but would it not be more like

50 x 125 x 1200
2 x 5 x 4 foot

Okay - ya half got me. Should have been 1220 and not 2020- but the rest of them were right on the mark - 5.5" = 140mm according to my rule :)

N/

[silentC]

The first thing is that, unless you are very lucky, you're not going to get true edges ready for joining by just sanding.

The 'easy way' is to use a jointer. This will give you one flat face and one flat edge that are at 90 degrees to each other. You use these surfaces as the reference for further steps - ripping or thicknessing.

Yes you can use a bandsaw to 'resaw' your large boards into smaller ones - this is the common way of doing it. You don't need anything special, just a bandsaw with the required depth of cut, a good blade, and a bit of time to tune the saw and set it up properly.

However, there's no way you'll get two at 25mm. You'll lose 2 or 3mm in the kerf and even if you're very careful, your blade will probably wander a bit in the cut. Then you have to plane both faces. If you get 2x19mm out of a 50mm board, you'll be doing really well.

The normal way to approach this task would be to resaw/rip your boards slightly over-size. Then you would plane one face (I would use a jointer, but you can use a hand plane), then plane an edge perpendicular to the face - this is very easy on a jointer, a bit harder with a hand plane. Then you would rip to width, plane/joint that edge, then thickness. Well, the last few steps can be done in any order.

[ian]

Basically I have access to a load of rather old hardwood - the current batch is around two inches thick by around five and a half wide by around four foot long (or if you prefer 50mm x 140mm x 2020mm). They have been taken from an old jetty - in perfect condition but the owners wanted a "new" one. I have no idea what the timber is - it looks like oak, very dense and heavy.

The previous batch I used where thinner - around 30mm and I used them as was. Preparation included de-nailing and then running through my thicknesser. After two pieces I stopped and looked at the thicknesser blades that looked like some madman had taken an axe to them (brand new). When I took them back to Total Tools they told me that I had "obviously" not de-nailed the timber. After I showed the guy a piece of the timber he gave me a new set of blades. my guess is that the thicknesser blades were "savged" by sand, salt and grit embedded in the grain of the timber.

This batch is thicker - around 50mm and I want to reduce them to around 25mm. Hmmm I thought, maybe I can cut them through the centre, clean up the edges and then join the edges together. Given my shortage of decent tools, I wanted to know:

Can I use a band saw to split the timbers in two? If so how much do I need to spend on it (budget is limited) and are there any features, accessories, options that I should insist in (I've been salivating over the Carbatec cattle dog).

Given the awful job of belt sanding last time (an the fact that I have a great pile of these and similar pieces), what is the easiest way of sanding the faces and getting the edges true for joining. The first time I used a belt sander on the faces and cut the edges with a table saw and then planed them flat while checking them with a try square. Would it be worth buying a 12" bench disc sander for the heavy sanding?

Is there any easy way of ensuring that a piece of timber is true and all the angles are at 90 degrees. I'm thinking of getting one face flat (from a cut) and then using a router table to get a true edge or do I just use something like a Veritas Iron Edge Trimming Plane or is there a secret method that I have not stumbled on yet?what I reccon I'd do is:

use a circular saw (with a cheap rip blade) and straight edge guide to trim 3–5mm off each edge of each board

then use the table saw (again with a cheap rip blade) to take 3–5mm off the face of each board. Use the table saw blade to shave the material away, and you'll have to turn the board over to get the bit that passes over the blade.

(this cutting is to remove the crud contaminated layer from the timber)

you will now have pieces about 40mm thick and 125mm wide.
I'd then joint one edge and face
the edge can be done with a router and straight guide, or a saw (with decent blade) and guide (do you need an excuse to buy a couple of green machines?)
at 125mm wide, the face is more problematic, the safest way is a jointer

you now have boards with one true edge and one true face
through the thicknesser lots of times will get you boards about 25mm thick, a huge pile of chips and rather dull planer blades

it's better to slice off most of the extra thickness using a bandsaw, but 125mm hardwood will need lots of motor power — I doubt if any of Carbatec's 14" Bandsaws have enough grunt — and the right blade.



ian

[rsser]

Brush box was often used for jetties, bridges etc. It doesn't look like Oak however so maybe you have something else. It's full of silica and kills edges quick.

[prozac]

Turpentine is usually used fro the piles of a jetty. Not sure if they change timbers for what's above the waterline.

[rsser]

Yep, should've said 'for decking timber'.

[prosmart]

Hi

Given that I have now displayed my ignorance of both machines and timber :), can anyone suggest an easy way of identifying these timbers that I have access to? I'd really like to know what I am dealing with.

Apologies if this is considered off-topic.

TIA

Nigel.