Thanks: 0
Needs Pictures: 0
Picture(s) thanks: 0
Results 1 to 15 of 15
-
27th August 2011, 11:47 AM #1GOLD MEMBER
- Join Date
- Mar 2008
- Location
- Townsville, Nth Qld
- Posts
- 4,236
Grain orientation for jointer and thicknesser
Can anyone please refer me to a good reference on the correct grain orientation of boards being fed into 1) a jointer and 2) a thicknesser to avoid any tearout?
Are there any special requirements when using radiata pine on these machines?regards,
Dengy
-
27th August 2011 11:47 AM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
- Join Date
- Always
- Location
- Advertising world
- Posts
- Many
-
27th August 2011, 11:54 AM #2
Good question Jill,
Hoping you don't mind me tagging along for the answer.
Cheers, Crowie
-
27th August 2011, 12:08 PM #3GOLD MEMBER
- Join Date
- Mar 2008
- Location
- Townsville, Nth Qld
- Posts
- 4,236
no problems crowie, we are all here to learn, and share our knowledge where we can. This is what makes this such a great forum
regards,
Dengy
-
27th August 2011, 12:14 PM #4
I just assumed you would feed in the direction of the grain rather than against it. No real reason other than the thought that to feed against the grain it would be more likely to lift,especially if the blades weren't up to par
IanLast edited by Ian Smith; 27th August 2011 at 12:14 PM. Reason: carnt spel
-
27th August 2011, 01:35 PM #5
You would feed the timber in with the grain, BUT, Pine being what it is can be contrary. I normally do a really fast initial cut about 1mm deep quite fast to orient the grain and see what it does and then adjust as needed. I have found that if you go fast on that first cut, it will tear out quite visibly without doing much damage and generally if you turn it around the next cut will fix the tearout.
I guess that there are as many ideas out there as there is woodworkers, but this is what I do.
RobertCheck my facebook:rhbtimber
-
27th August 2011, 03:25 PM #6Senior Member
- Join Date
- Oct 2005
- Location
- Brisbane
- Age
- 44
- Posts
- 182
You feed the wood into the surfacer with the grain running uphill and into the thicknesser with the grain running downhill. An easy way to remember this when you're starting out is "using the surfacer is harder, like walking uphill."
Please excuse my poor ASCII art skills, the slashes are the (exaggerated) direction of the grain.
SURFACER <---- \\\\\\\\\\\\\
THICKNESSER <---- ////////////
-
27th August 2011, 05:04 PM #7
That's a smart way of representing it in a hurry, Scissors! I assume you mean the slashes to represent the grain lines viewed fom the SIDE of the board.....?
Also for the newbies: imagine the blades rotating into the wood - for the top one (surfacer or jointer) the blades are contacting the under side, whilst it's the top side of the board that gets the treatment in the thickneser.
Use the same technique to "read" the grain of a board for hand planing. There are other ways to do it, but this is by far the easiest & most reliable (as long as the edge is clean enough to see the fibre orientation).
Cheers,IW
-
27th August 2011, 05:33 PM #8Senior Member
- Join Date
- Oct 2005
- Location
- Brisbane
- Age
- 44
- Posts
- 182
Yup Ian, I should have mentioned that that's looking at the grain from the side of the board.
-
28th August 2011, 08:30 AM #9GOLD MEMBER
- Join Date
- Mar 2008
- Location
- Townsville, Nth Qld
- Posts
- 4,236
Thanks Scissors, that is a neat way of remembering it
regards,
Dengy
-
29th August 2011, 06:32 PM #10Enthusiatic Amateur
- Join Date
- Jun 2007
- Location
- Toowoomba
- Posts
- 144
Most of the boards I work with look like this:
//////////\\\\\\\\\\\
-
30th August 2011, 04:44 PM #11SENIOR MEMBER
- Join Date
- Apr 2005
- Location
- Nambour Qld
- Age
- 88
- Posts
- 688
Hello Jill
As specialist and Dovetail infer, grain orientation in some boards varies over the length and there may be no best (or even good) feed direction.
However, when grain orientation can be seen on the board edge I mark it in exaggerated fashion with felt pen or chalk as shown here. Then, on a planer/thicknesser combo, referring to these lines, the rule is: on top, top leads, on the bottom, bottom leads.
Hope the diagram explains this.Brian
-
31st August 2011, 12:59 AM #12
Jill, do you own a hand plane?
the grain orientation is the same with a hand plane as it is for power tool -- you always try to plane "down hill"
so for the jointer imagine that you've got a plane clamped upside down in the vice -- which way is down hill if you were to push the board over the plane. This is the direction of feed.
for the thicky, imagine the plane is right way up the plane -- push the borad in the same direction you would push the planeregards from Alberta, Canada
ian
-
31st August 2011, 06:20 PM #13Senior Member
- Join Date
- Nov 2010
- Location
- Lone Tree, Colorado, USA
- Posts
- 340
I've always heard the "pet the cat" method. The cutter should attack the surface as if it were petting a cat. You don't want to pet the fur in the opposite direction that the fur naturally lays down...or you'll have a really angry cat, or piece of lumber.
-
7th September 2011, 03:13 PM #14
This thread is featured in today's Woodworkers Journal eZine, Web surfers section.
RegardsHugh
Enough is enough, more than enough is too much.
-
9th September 2011, 11:03 PM #15
I like the pet the cat explanation, especially as not all the fur goes the one way
Cheers,
Shannon.
Similar Threads
-
Jointer Thicknesser
By NOISY ONE in forum JOINTERS, MOULDERS, THICKNESSERS, ETCReplies: 0Last Post: 6th April 2008, 09:45 AM -
What thicknesser and jointer would you buy? Why?
By dvdhack in forum JOINTERS, MOULDERS, THICKNESSERS, ETCReplies: 5Last Post: 22nd December 2007, 06:54 PM -
Thicknesser or Planer Thicknesser (Jointer)
By Markw in forum JOINTERS, MOULDERS, THICKNESSERS, ETCReplies: 5Last Post: 9th November 2006, 01:58 PM -
Grain Orientation In Cutting Boards
By echnidna in forum WOODWORK - GENERALReplies: 6Last Post: 24th July 2006, 02:49 AM -
Thicknesser and Jointer
By boxers in forum WOODWORK - GENERALReplies: 13Last Post: 30th September 2005, 05:39 PM