Milling question...

[peter slamp]

I know the normal protocol for milling rough stock is to joint an edge then an adjacent face using the first edge as reference against the fence. Normally the next step is to plane the other face so that it is parallel to the jointed face. Maybe this is stupid but since I don't have a planer yet what the heck. Wouldn't everything be squared up and parallel if I continue to joint using the previous surface as reference around the board? Seems to me if every side is at 90 degrees to the adjacent side it should be square and thus parallel. Am I missing something here? I'm sure this isn't the best way, but since I still haven't gotten a planer yet.... Thanks!

[Ian Abraham]

Not necessarily...

The 4 sides of a board can be 90 deg without the faces actually being parrallel. You could actually end up with a truncated pyramid :o

Cheers

Ian

[Dan Forman]

Actually, the first step is usually joint one face, then joint an edge referencing that jointed face against the fence. A jointed edge would not give a suitable reference for jointing a face. As for the rest, Ian is correct, jointing doesn't make two surfaces parallel.

Dan

[lou sansone]

I have found it best to face joint, plane. straight line rip one edge using my slider ( or joint the edge using the jointer ) and then rip to width

lou

[Jim Becker]

I use the order that Lou does, even before the slider. Always get the face flat first, however, so that you can get an edge perpendicular to that wider face. (Obviously, something square gives you some flexibility... :D )

[peter slamp]

Not necessarily...

The 4 sides of a board can be 90 deg without the faces actually being parrallel. You could actually end up with a truncated pyramid :o

Cheers

Ian

How is this possible? For all sides at 90 they would necessarily be perpendicular as well. This would require opposite sides to be parallel. I know it's been a long time since geometry but...

[David Lein]

Peter: Think of a four sided board with a perfectly square rectangle for one face that tapers to a point–a rectangular pyramid. Any section from the square face to the tip of the pyramid that is parallel to the square face must then also have four 90 degree angles. I think that's right.

My first post to SMC and it's about geometry. Yikes.

David Lein

[Pete Brown]

Peter: Think of a four sided board with a perfectly square rectangle for one face that tapers to a point–a rectangular pyramid. Any section from the square face to the tip of the pyramid that is parallel to the square face must then also have four 90 degree angles. I think that's right.

My first post to SMC and it's about geometry. Yikes.

If I understand your example correctly, any perpendicular cross section of the board would be square, but the board would not be of consistent thickness across its length.

If so, I agree.

Pete

PS welcome to the creek :)

[Matt Day]

Good explaination David!

[Matt Benton]

Hopefully I not straying too far off topic, but...

I have a planer but no jointer, and plan on using the router table for the edges. What would be the best order to properly surface a board?

Thanks!

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Matt, since you don't have a jointer, you will need to make a sled for your planer to support your warped piece of wood.

This isn't as easy as it seems. What you would ideally do is place the wood on top of a flat, rigid substrate such a piece of BB ply, and shim it to keep it from moving, as well as resisting the downward pressure from the planer rollers. The wood also has to captured by the sled so it doesn't move in the horizontal plane, relative to the sled.

Once you have run it through the planer, with the sled a few times, it would be somewhat flat. (It's not going to be as good as a jointer).

Then you can use your somewhat flat surface as the reference face when surfacing the second face, no sled required.

What you are discovering, is that a planer is a very simple machine, it makes on surface parallel to another (in the same way a tablesaw with a fence does when ripping).

A jointer is a much more expensive machine to build since it has to have long, flat, co-planer tables to make a wood surface flat and straight. This costs money in precision and amachining. The jointer also has a fence so that you can use the jointed face of your wood to use as a reference to make one edge straight and at at (usually) a right angle to the face.

The planer has it easy, just copy an already existing face.

You can use a router or a shaper to edge joint a piece of wood after you have a reference face.

I presume that you don't have a jointer at this point, however I predict you will own one in the future. The jointer provides the initial acurracy that most other tools use as reference.

Regards, Rod.

[Matt Benton]

Thanks for the info, Rod.

I've been hoping I could purchase thicker stock with minimal bow.

I'm also hoping that, for thinner pieces, resawing with the BS will give me a flat-enough surface to plane.

How difficult is it to obtain stock that is sufficiently dried and without bow?

Thanks again!