Which do you do first? Flatten one face, or straight line rip?

[dirk martin]

Do you plane, or joint one face clean first, and then straight line rip one edge, or do you rip one edge clean first?

Assume I'm using a Festool circular saw and guide track for SLRing.

[Leigh Betsch]

I flatten the face first then straight line rip on my Euro slider. That way the cut edge is square to the face. Depending on the board length I will often straighten it on the jointer rather that straight line it.
Sometimes if the board edge is badly crooked I'll straight line it first, then flatten, then re-edge on the jointer to get the edge square to the face.
In either case I finish the face then finish the edge.
But I don't have a Festool so maybe there is some kinda Fesmagic that would change the way to do things.

[Damon Stathatos]

Assuming the piece is manageable both length and width-wise on the jointer, I usually flatten a face first and then go for square and straight on the concave edge. Then to the thickness planer for the opposing parallel face to thickness. The last edge on the table saw to width.

Don't ask me if the piece is either too long or wide for the jointer because then it's time to get creative.

[dirk martin]

10 foot long boards.

Just seemed like a waste to plane the face first, only to throw part of it away by SLRing.
Seems that if you SLR'd first, you'd have less to plane.

[Will Overton]

If you don't flatten a face first, the edge you rip will most likely need to be cut again. It would be almost impossible to square the face to the edge while flattening as you would have to hold the edge flat against the fence. Doing it face first gives you a large surface to hold against the fence.

[Mike Harrison]

Leigh Betsch said;

I flatten the face first then straight line rip....

Thats what I do as well, but I SLR using a sled and RAS.

[Alan Bienlein]

I will rip my material to rough size, crosscut to rough length and then flatten the face and one edge on the jointer. I've had it happen to many times where one board has some type of internal stresses that cause you to have to rejoint it again.

[Curt Harms]

I agree with cutting to rough size first. Maybe skip plane first to get an idea of color and grain. If practical, I crosscut first to make the pieces more manageable and having less to remove to make the first face flat. Then face joint, edge joint, plane, rip. This is starting with rough stock, of course.

[Paul Greathouse]

Another option that I haven't seen anyone mention yet is face jointing and then next going to the thickness planer before edge jointing or straight line ripping.

I've been working with alot of Black Walnut lately and I use this procedure because of the sapwood. Doing so, allows me to choose which side of the board I want to measure from for final width. There may be more sapwood on one side of the board than on the other or there may be some other irregularity that would prompt me to choose which side of the board to waste. Having both sides of the board clearly visible before edge jointing makes the decision easier.

This would also hold true with other species that don't have sapwood because most boards have one side that just looks better than the other. I like to run the face that will show against the jointer fence when edge jointing.

[Will Overton]

Good point Paul!

[Michael MacDonald]

I have only done this a few times so far, but I have face-jointed, thickness planed... and only then edge jointed and ripped... didn't seem to be much point in edge jointing before I had the faces complete, because the edge registers to the face...

I rip the boards to approximate width before face jointing, but it was not a straight rip because the fence side was not straight...

[scott spencer]

I will rip my material to rough size, crosscut to rough length and then flatten the face and one edge on the jointer....

That's pretty much what I do. It seems less wasteful too, because you're flattening smaller pieces, as opposed to the whole piece of bulk lumber. Once it's flat and straight I'll go for final dimensions.

[Larry Rasmussen]

On how straight it is. Certainly for me cross cut comes first to fit project. You know you have to rip or joint the edge once after face is flat to get the consistent proper angle. So for me if the wood is pretty straight then face flatten as is, rip next. But if some of them are flaming bowed I'll festool or rip them straight knowing they're still going to need edge treatment.

You could probably correlate the condition of the wood the responders to your post usually start with to which operation they have got in the habit of doing first.

Regards,
Larry R
Seattle

[Dan Karachio]

Another option that I haven't seen anyone mention yet is face jointing and then next going to the thickness planer before edge jointing or straight line ripping.

...

This would also hold true with other species that don't have sapwood because most boards have one side that just looks better than the other. I like to run the face that will show against the jointer fence when edge jointing.

Thank you, I think this will save me some waste and heartache.

[mreza Salav]

Cut to rough lenght on the CMS, then
face joint, then plane, then edge joint, then rip.

A few points:

- doing the edge join after both faces are flat+parallel has the benefit that allows you to select the direction at which you want to join the edge (because both faces are true now). This is helpful to align the grain with the cutting direction.

- Doing ripping boards before face joining is doable but it can be dangerous on the table saw if the boards are really out of flat.

[Thomas Pender]

Unlike many, I almost always rip with my band saw, which does not seem to be bothered by messed up boards that would cause me difficulty on my table saw. Many old timers will only rip on band saws for that reason. Ripping also releases stress and makes jointing easier.

I believe in cutting to size (rough) and then jointing. Wastes much less material. Following that I plane - either with a planer or hand planes - depending on what it is I want to achieve. If I ever get a 16" jointer, this will change.;)

[Prashun Patel]

If the piece is narrow enough to fit in my jointer, I joint the face first then joint an edge, then rip to rough width then plane the final face, then rip to final width, then joint the ripped edge.

I do it this way to minimize the material my planer has to remove. My final pass thru the jointer is done with the table all the way up so it's just smoothing the saw marks out.

If my piece is too wide for the jointer, then if the piece is close to flat, I'll run it end over end through the planer, which tends to get it flat eventually.

If the piece is really wide, and I need to rip it to get it into the planer or jointer, then I will first joint a clean edge so that I have a good face to ride the fence when I rip it in half. I'm skittish about running anything through the table saw that hasn't been at least dressed on the bottom or the edge.

[Russell Hudson]

I will rip my material to rough size, crosscut to rough length and then flatten the face and one edge on the jointer. I've had it happen to many times where one board has some type of internal stresses that cause you to have to rejoint it again.

This is the way we do it too.
Rough boards that are 'way' out of true (not straight) , are cross cut to get the short lengths and everything else is machined for as long as the material is straight. Short pieces are harder to work with (and more dangerous to machine)... plus there could be a bit of snipe from the planer (you'll have less of it when planing full lengths) ...and the process takes a little less time.