Milling Rough Lumber

[Aaron Conway]

Hi all,

In reading here and on podcasts I listen to, it's clear that once you can start buying rough lumber and milling it yourself you have so many more options for your work. In milling rough lumber, it seems the first step is to get one flat side to start with by running it over the jointer. I feel like this is a dumb question and has a really simple answer and must be missing the obvious. Most people (average hobby ww'er) have a 6" or 8" jointer. If you buy a 12"-14" wide rough board, how do you get that one flat side from a 6"-8" jointer...without trying to flatten it with a handplane?

Thanks,

Aaron

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Aaron, I rip anything wider to width unless there's a real reason to keep the wood intact, then I use a hand plane.

I have a combination machine so I have a 12 inch jointer and a 12 inch planer...........Rod.

[Prashun Patel]

12" wide wood is expensive. 12" jointers are expensive. Also, if the 12" board is twisted, jointing it flat may result in a thinner piece than if you ripped it in half, jointed each piece separately, then re-glued it.

You may find (as I have) that 12" wide pieces of spectacular lumber that you wish not to rip are far more rare than the 2"-8" stock that makes up the bulk of your parts and panels. For those few times I've needed it, there are jiggy ways to use your wider planer to 'joint' or you can use a hand plane.

I guess what I'm saying is that it's not as much of a limitation as you might suspect, and there are ways around it.

But if we could afford the space and $$ for a 12" jointer, would most people want one. Probably yes.

To that end...there exist very nice combo planer/jointer machines that give you 12" jointing capacity. Of course, this "limits" the planing capacity too...

[cody michael]

there was a post on here a few days ago, depending on what you are building some people don't face joint, they just use the planer, this will normally get out a cup, but a bow or twist will remain. that is how I was taught. I can definitely see that running it through the jointer first is the better way in most situations.

also I have seen planer sleds on here where people basically shim the twisted board so it is supported, run it through the planer, this does same idea as jointing it first.

[Jim Dwight]

In a way, a planer sled may be preferable to a jointer. The shimming to get the board level will tell you about what you are going to end up with in terms of thickness. If you have to use 1/4 inch shims to level the board, you aren't going to end up with more than 3/4 finished thickness out of a 1 inch rough cut board, for instance. It will really be at least 1/16 under. So you have to choose between a board that is too thin or a board with a little warp. Or you could make it more narrow to try and straighten it some.

I don't like to start with the jointer, as a rule, because I often end up with boards too thin. If you just use the planner you can get thicker, potentially more useful, boards and you will have two parallel faces but you won't have removed much of the twist in the board. On many projects, that can be addressed through either glueup or the way the pieces are joined together.

[lowell holmes]

When I have a 10" -12" board that needs to be flattened and straightened I will do the following.

I will have a 6" wide flat and straight board ready to use that is the same length as the wide board.

I will run the wide board through the jointer leaving a flat and straight 6" wide land on the board. I then using carpet tape, tape the 6" flat board into the land on the wide board.

I will run the wide board with the flat board attached with carpet tape through the planer with the flattened board down. That gives me a flat surface on one side of the wide board.

I remove the 6" board and tape from the wide board, turn it with the rough side up, and run the wide board through the planer.

That leaves me with a jointed wide board. It is also uniform in thickness.

[Daniel Rode]

I've flattened quite a few wider boards and I've never owned anything wider that a 6" jointer. What I *used to do*, was to set the board on an MDF sled. (3/4" 12" x 48"). I would then shim and support the board until it was stable and then take light passes through my 13" planer until I got one side flat. Then take it off the sled and run it through on the opposite side. This worked pretty well.

I now use a hand plane to flatten one side. In the time it took me to get the board shimmed and stable on the MDF, I'm already done. Plus, I find it more consistently flat. I still flip it over and run it through the planer to get it to thickness. I find no joy in doing that job by hand :)

[John TenEyck]

If you want to build typical furniture and cabinets an 8" wide jointer is all you really need. If you want one piece panels in a raised panel door, or one piece sides for a cabinet, for example, that 8" jointer is not going to do it. Actually, it can if you have a jointer that can cut rabbets. You can joint boards nearly twice as wide as the jointer capacity by rotating the board end for end to do each half of the width. It takes some skill but it can be done. The easier solution is to get a wider jointer. Of course there are work arounds, as offered a plenty above, and each of us decides how to make do with what we have. I had an Inca 10" J/P for 25 years and was always glad I wasn't stuck with only an 8" jointer. But I finally got frustrated with the limitations of "only" 10" capacity and recently upgraded to a 14" Mini Max J/P. Count me very happy with both the machine and the extra capacity. If I had been able to find a used 16" one I would have happily bought that instead.

There's no such thing as having a jointer, or planer, that's too big.

John

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I've got a 12" J/P.
But fact is I never use boards wider than 8".

[Aaron Conway]

All great info.

Thanks everyone.

Aaron

[Peter Aeschliman]

Aaron, one quick tip that may be obvious to most (but wasn't obvious to me at first). You didn't ask about this, but I'll bring it up anyway.

The very first thing I do before I start milling is cut the pieces to rough length (leaving some excess in case you get some snipe on the jointer or planer- which shouldn't happen if your machines are tuned, but it happens sometimes).

If you leave the board the full length before milling, you end up taking off way more material than you would otherwise need to. For example, if an 8' piece is evenly bowed by 1" at the apex (center), to get the bow out, you'll have to remove 1" from both ends of the board if you leave it in its 8' length. That's incredibly time consuming and wastes a ton of material. But if you really only need 2' segments, you can cut the rough board down to 2' pieces first and that 1" bow becomes a 1/4" bow over the 2' length. So you only have to remove a 1/4" of material to get that piece flat.

For the first few projects I worked on, I didn't plan ahead on the length of pieces I needed for my project. So I'd start by milling the rough lumber in its full length. Lots of time and material (and money) wasted. Doh! I laugh when I think about some of the dumb things I did in my early days of the hobby.

[Andrew Hughes]

My favorite part of milling rough boards is seeing what's under the rough surface.Its like a gift from Mother Nature.Each time something differant.They should be handled with care and confidence!

[Anthony Whitesell]

When I have a 10" -12" board that needs to be flattened and straightened I will do the following.

I will have a 6" wide flat and straight board ready to use that is the same length as the wide board.

I will run the wide board through the jointer leaving a flat and straight 6" wide land on the board. I then using carpet tape, tape the 6" flat board into the land on the wide board.

I will run the wide board with the flat board attached with carpet tape through the planer with the flattened board down. That gives me a flat surface on one side of the wide board.

I remove the 6" board and tape from the wide board, turn it with the rough side up, and run the wide board through the planer.

That leaves me with a jointed wide board. It is also uniform in thickness.

I do the same thing. I have a couple of pieces of 1/2" mdf with a 1/4" tall cleat attached to one end. I have several pieces all 7" wide (I have an 8" jointer) but in different lengths, They are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 feet.If you notice they add together in pairs to 8'. ;)

[Earl McLain]

My favorite part of milling rough boards is seeing what's under the rough surface.Its like a gift from Mother Nature.Each time something differant.They should be handled with care and confidence!

Well said, same here. Funny this is that i'm pretty much never disappointed--just varying degrees of happy. I've got a stash of old ash that was cut with a circular saw--really ugly to look at, but all of it has been gorgeous to mill.

earl

[John TenEyck]

My favorite part of milling rough boards is seeing what's under the rough surface.Its like a gift from Mother Nature.Each time something differant.They should be handled with care and confidence!

It's even more fun to mill the log from which the lumber comes. It's like opening a Christmas present every time I cut into a new log. Some ugly logs have beautiful wood inside, and some logs you would think would have nice clear wood inside are completely disappointing. It's a great feeling to take a log and turn it into a piece of furniture.

John