Thread: Trueing timber options

Hendrix,

Your first step should be to create one true, flat face. I use a jointer, but cabinetmakers made flat panels for many years before woodworking machines became available. Table saws (when using a fence) and thicknessers register from that one true face and cut parallel to it. If you don't have that one flat face, neither the thicknesser nor the table saw will cut a true, flat and parallel face.

A mate of mine used a long, very sharp hand plane to get one face as close as possible to flat. Then he had a piece of ply he screwed to the bench top. The ply had a heavy duty sanding belt glued to it. He fastened a couple of clamps to the workpiece (to hang on to) and rubbed the workpiece over the sandpaper until he got a flat face, Then he cut parallel pieces off this workpiece with a table saw (you do need a decent fence, but I'm sure someone here can help you with some ideas on how to set up a good fence).

It is also possible to use a drum sander or linisher, but it sounds as if you don't have these.

given you don't own a jointer, nor from your question know how to do what needs to be done with hand planes, your best option is to find someone in Coffs who can do the flattening, thickening and dimensioning for you.

I'm sure there's a fellow forumite in Coffs with teh necessary tools

Do you have a hand-held circular saw?

You could screw a straight edge or sled onto the post, then use that to guide the circular saw along it. I do this for panels, and it works well, but I don't know about posts. I think you would have to screw the saw sled onto the post, then clamp the whole lot to a bench.

If you have straight edges to use as reference lines or tool guides, there are also ways to make a flat surface using a hand planer or router, but it is a lot of setup and work for each post.

Lay the post on a piece of thick ply and wedge it so it doesn't rock. Temporarily screw it from below using the shortest screws available and run it through the planer, that should give you one flat face to work from.

Thanks for the replies all.


I understand the principle of using planes initially, however I was hoping for a less laborious way. I have an electric plane, I might have a go at commencing with it. With only a couple of mm bow over 2.2m or so it may be delicate work.

Not too keen on getting someone else to do it, I work with recycled wood a bit however have not had the requirement to get the straightness so exact (and it depends on the quality of the wood i begin with....), hence would like to work out a system to do it.

r3tic that is a great idea, much appreciated, it might be worth a go.......

I had been considering that if i can set up a quite long fence I could feed the peices through the table saw with the concave side to the fence which should? acheive the desired initial flat face. This might take a bit of construction and I would need to start with loong flat bits for the fence which might be a challenge. And with the depth of some of the peices I would have to saw twice (from top and bottom). Though I did rip 90mm sq in this way to get 90x45' (ish).

Again, thanks for the replies, I welcome any additional ideas or comments

Originally Posted by Hendrix

...I understand the principle of using planes initially, however I was hoping for a less laborious way. ....

We all feel like that at one time or another given the options to use machines to get things started can be a lot easier.

Good Morning Hendrix

Most joinery shops will, for a usually modest fee, custom process timber for you. But almost invariably they will not touch recycled wood - risk of grit or nails damaging their expensive blades is too high. So this option is probably not available.

Hand planing using "winding sticks" and a long strait edge is the traditional way to joint that first surface. It requires a very sharp well tuned plane and a certain level of skill: do you want to develop that skill now? Personally, I doubt that I could control an electric plane sufficiently to do this task - they are ferocious critters.

r3tic's suggestion to make a sled and then use your thicknesser as a jointer is a good one, and probably the easiest for skill-challenged people like me. My sleds are made from MDF rather than plywood as I initially had it in stock, and it is much cheaper than ply. Also, I glue the timber to the sled with a hot glue gun rather than screwing it - no screw holes to disguise and no risk of screws damaging the planing blades - and a sharp tap releases the glue.

Over time I have built up a collection of sleds - long, short, wide, narrow, etc. For little jobs or those with recycled timber I use my thicknesser for jointing - for large jobs with new timber I go to a local joinery. IMHO, you have to precut timber before jointing on a thicknesser - once a sled gets over 1.5 metres long it gets too awkward to handle.


Fair Winds

Graeme

Hendrix



can build a pair of FLAT tables (from MDF) each about 1.5m long

If you can, you can mount your thicknesser between them so that each table and
the bed of the thicknesser are all in the one plane. Then when you place the
boards on the sled (and wedge them so they don't rock or deflect under the
cutter head) you will, after a few passes, get one flat face.

with one flat face you can then thickness the material.