Big Slab to rip

[Mike Burns]

I've got a 1 1/2" x 29" x 60" slab of Ash that I want to use for a bench top. It is actually 4 boards that were glued up by a friend and given to me. The problem is that it is no where near flat: so much so, that if I tried and was successful planing it flat, I'd end up with less than a 1" top. I'd like to rip it in 2" strips, then turn them on edge and flatten two adjacent sides on the jointer before running them through my planer and then glue it up so I'd have close to a 2" top about 21 inches deep. All I have is a Jet contractors saw. I've never ripped anything that hard and thick on the saw. Before I try it, I'm wondering if I'd be wasting my time trying to do this on my saw. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

[Gary Breckenridge]

;) Cutting the monster plank into 2" strips will make lots of sawdust, 1/8" per cut. A planer tends to make boards thinner not straighter. You will have to get the scant and wane out of the wood. In the end you will want all your 2" pieces to be perfect rectanglular blocks, 90 degree angles and perfectly flat when laid on a table saw. You will have to work the bad out of each strip. If you can spot one or two major problems in the plank maybe you can cut them out. Have you thought about using a piece of 3/4" mdf as a base?:D

[Mike Wenzloff]

Hi Mike,

I too would identify the worse parts of the cut and cut them there. If it is an even cupping, I would consider cutting it into thirds and at most fourths and working on those.

Take care, Mike

[Rob Russell]

Mike,

Since the top is only 1 1/2" thick, I'd joint a piece of 2x4 to use as a straightedge, clamp it to the top as a guide and use a regular 7 1/4" circular saw to cut the top into strips. I'd also think that cutting it up into 5-6" wide pieces, jointing those and then regluing back together would be less work than dealing with all the 2" strips.

Rob

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Sounds like a job for a Router Bridge.

You can flatten damn near any size piece of anything with a router bridge.

It's all a question of how well you build the bridge.

[Frank Fusco]

Until I got on this forum I thought I was fairly literate. Now a lot of words and terms come up that I have never seen. This thread:
"scan and wane" and "router bridge". Can only guess at meanings. :confused: Oh, well.

[Mike Burns]

Sounds like a job for a Router Bridge.

You can flatten damn near any size piece of anything with a router bridge.

It's all a question of how well you build the bridge.

Cliff, I thought of making a router bridge for the whole piece, but it is so unflat ( I know that's not a word :) ) that it would remove too much material. I think I'll follow the advice of the others and take a less ambitious route and just rip it down to 6" planks that I can run through my jointer and planer and then re-glue it.

Thanks for the response.

Mike

[Mike Burns]

Mike,

Since the top is only 1 1/2" thick, I'd joint a piece of 2x4 to use as a straightedge, clamp it to the top as a guide and use a regular 7 1/4" circular saw to cut the top into strips. I'd also think that cutting it up into 5-6" wide pieces, jointing those and then regluing back together would be less work than dealing with all the 2" strips.

Rob


Good idea, and probably the easiest way to go. I've got a circular saw guide, so here's hoping my old skil-saw is up to the task.

Mike

[Chris Padilla]

Mike,

If you still want to go the 2" strip route, you might as well cross-cut the ash and turn the end-grain up to create a true butcher block top of workbench--that would be one tough workbench top! I am planning to do this for my maple workbench as I happen to find a screaming deal for several (12 to be exact) 18" x 36" x 1 1/2" maple butcher block tops all glued up and ready for mobile kitchen islands. I guess the company went out of business or something but I picked up 12 of those beauties for $200. Sorry, no pics...I know, didn't happen, right?! :D

All the ideas here could still apply like jointing a nice board (or picking up some MDF) to use as a straight-edge and using a good old circ saw.

This is one of those situations in which the board is too big to move it through the equipment...you need to move the equipment through the board.

I'm sure your skil-saw would be fine with the task...just give it a nice blade to spin! :D

Pick up some 1.5" thick rigid foam board at the local borg, toss the board on that, set up your circ saw, and go for it!

[Jerry Olexa]

What is a router bridge?? :)

[Don Baer]

Mike,
To answer your original question, I have the jet Contractor saw and have had no problem cutting 8/4 hard maple so your saw will get er done.

[Larry Browning]

Frank and Jerry,
I guess all the enlightened folks figure that if we don't know what a router bridge is we shouldn't be reading this post and are therefore ignoring us.
WHAT THE HECK IS A ROUTER BRIDGE?????
I'm sure others would like to know as well.....

[Mike Burns]

Frank and Jerry,
I guess all the enlightened folks figure that if we don't know what a router bridge is we shouldn't be reading this post and are therefore ignoring us.
WHAT THE HECK IS A ROUTER BRIDGE?????
I'm sure others would like to know as well.....


Larry,

Here is a link with an illustration of a router bridge, or a router planing set-up. It's a little past half-way down the page.

http://www.jeffgreefwoodworking.com/pnc/ShopProj/TradBnch/index3.html

Mike