FROM TREE TO BOARDS.
I always look forward to a good wind storm; it means more wood for furniture. In 2007 we had a storm that produced 130km winds and blew down an acacia tree. I got the wood. Here’s the process I used to turn it into usable boards, and a six foot long sideboard.How to take a log and turn it into flat boards for furniture making
A. FROM TREE TO PLANKS
1. Cut the logs into usable lengths, usually around 6ft., and haul them off to a mill. (All this requires a hamburger and beer along the way.)
2. Have the man cut them into 1 ¼ “ planks (aka 5/4s)
3. Take them home, hose off all the sawdust and wash both sides of all the planks with a dilute solution of bleach; about 1c in a bucket of water. Use a broom to do this. This is very necessary as mould will go through the wood as it eats the sugar in the sap, and turns the wood gray.
4. Stack and sticker the planks with spacers right at each end, and one or two in the middle.
5. Strap them with perforated metal strapping used for securing water tanks, pipes etc.
6. Bolt the straps together as tight as you can.
7. Cut wedges about one foot long and 6” high, and hammer them into the strapping to pull it tight. Drive a nail through the wedge into the top board so it won’t loosen. . (Put a low grade board on top.) These straps should be checked occasionally for looseness.
8. Paint the ends of each board, at least once with water based contact cement to inhibit cracking.
9. I let my wood dry for one year in our carport (Vancouver is a very wet place.), and then one year in my basement. (You always have to plan ahead with this hobby.)
A. FROM PLANKS TO BOARDS (Flattening warped boards)
When you unstrap the pile of dry wood, you will inevitably find that some planks are warped, and look like airplane propellers. If the wood is warped really badly, it may be necessary to cut it into smaller pieces first. There is hope.
1. When you put a board through a planer, the rollers will push the board flat, but won’t take out the warp. You just get a planed warped board. You need a planer sled, which is any flat straight piece of wood at least as long and as wide as your rough cut plank. Part of a solid bifold door is perfect, or some ¾” or 7/8” plywood.
2. Cut about a dozen little wedges about 2” long, and from 1/8 to ½” high at the end.
3. Place the plank on the planer sled. Two opposite corners will be touching. Using a hot glue gun, glue those points down to the sled. Make sure the other opposite corners are off the sled the same amount, otherwise one corner will be planed very thin. You can put glue on a couple of other contact points too, if you wish.
4. Now, wherever there is a gap between sled and board, put a bit of glue on a wedge and stick it into the gap, so the wood can’t be pushed flat.
5. You are ready to plane. Plane that side until it is flat, pop the wood off the sled, and plane the other side. If you are going down to ¾”, leave an extra 1/16” on for further planing and sanding.
6.The final step in this process is to square the edges. Run the concave edge through the jointer until it is straight, and then rip the convex edge on the table saw. Now all edges should be staright and parallel.
I find this whole process really enjoyable. It is rough work, you don’t have to be exact, and the results are fast and spectacular. There’s a lot to be said for a hundred year old tree lying on the neighbour’s lawn
Ken Bryden, West Vancouver, BC, January, 2013
