Ken Platt
06-10-2015, 9:55 PM
Folks - just wondering what others do in the situation of building an outdoor biggish project, in this case a simple pergola.
The wood is rough-cut white cedar, and is somewhat variable in dimensions. It's all supposed to be 4x4, but the widths I've measured vary from 3 7/8 to 4 1/4, sometimes in the same piece depending on which side and where on the length I measure. And, of course, the pieces while reasonably straight have some bow/crook to them. I think I avoided getting any with twist.
The posts and beams are, respectively, 8' and 10' long, so jointing them even on my 12" jointer isn't a trivial task, at least for me.
So...would you try to joint/plane as usual? If not, what would you do (if anything) to smooth the rough surface? Regular sanding, a trip through the drum sander (little Jet 10/20, I'd have to be careful with this length pieces), light planer pass?
Here is a picture of what I'm making, pretty much.
315513
I was going to add some 3/4 inch pieces on the bottom 2' of the posts to make it look as though there was a base to the posts, like in this. I suppose that'd be harder if I don't machine them.:315514.
I appreciate folks thoughts.
Ken
The wood is rough-cut white cedar, and is somewhat variable in dimensions. It's all supposed to be 4x4, but the widths I've measured vary from 3 7/8 to 4 1/4, sometimes in the same piece depending on which side and where on the length I measure. And, of course, the pieces while reasonably straight have some bow/crook to them. I think I avoided getting any with twist.
The posts and beams are, respectively, 8' and 10' long, so jointing them even on my 12" jointer isn't a trivial task, at least for me.
So...would you try to joint/plane as usual? If not, what would you do (if anything) to smooth the rough surface? Regular sanding, a trip through the drum sander (little Jet 10/20, I'd have to be careful with this length pieces), light planer pass?
Here is a picture of what I'm making, pretty much.
315513
I was going to add some 3/4 inch pieces on the bottom 2' of the posts to make it look as though there was a base to the posts, like in this. I suppose that'd be harder if I don't machine them.:315514.
I appreciate folks thoughts.
Ken