Flattening a 8" Cup w/6" Pow Jointer & 13" Planer...

[Mike Shields]

...it doesn't work!

The price of wood has me buying rough sawn, and then resawing/jointing/planing with hobbyist power tools.

It's doesn't take much to find the limits of a 6" jointer. What was I thinking when I tried to remove the cupping from a 8" wide poplar with my planer?
Needless to say, my drawers required quite a bit of tweaking to get everything to align.

I don't want to spend $1000 + on a 8" jointer, and lose floor space, and then still be width-limited.

Is it time to become a neanderthal?

Is my situation similar to anyone here who has already unplugged?

I've already started my research (SMC primarily), but because this is entirely new territory for me (non-powered):

what's the best way to approach the above mentioned dilemma before I consider breaking out the elbow grease and the check book?

And just in case someone wants to make a wish list for me, there is no budget limit.

TIA
Mike in Denver

[Johnny Kleso]

You can use a 6" if you remove fence and guard..

Not Safe at All !!!!!!!!!!!!

But you can take two passes one one left side jointing 1/2 the board then remove fence and do right hand 1/2..

You can also buy a No.5 Jack plane and long straight piece of steel from a Home Depot and plane the high spots off and use your planner without a jointer..

I have also jointed 6" of board and used the hand plane to flatten the rest but now fine the removing high spots and planning more easy..

[glenn bradley]

This served me for quite awhile; Planer Sled (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=58735)

[Clint Jones]

Use a jack plane (traditional with slight camber diagonal to the grain and chop down the high spots. Check each section with a straightedge to make sure you got the high spots knocked down even with the bottom of the cup. Use a jointer plane the length of the board to get it straight and flat. Then you can flip it over and run it through your planer.

[Robert Rozaieski]

With the cupped side up on your bench, plane across the grain & diagonal for a few passes up and down the board with a jack plane until you have two flats along the outside edges (maybe 1" to 1½" wide each). You may need to put wedges under the board to keep it from rocking while hand planing. The resulting flats will be coplaner because you planed across the grain. You do not need to plane the entire face or remove all of the cup with the hand plane. Once you have the two flat edges planed by hand run the board through the planer with the flat edges down on the planer bed. Take light passes so the board doesn't flex when running it through the planer. When the crowned side is flat, you then use it as the reference face by flipping the board over again and running the cupped side through the planer until it it flat. Now if you want to do the whole thing by hand, that's another story ;).

[Thom Sturgill]

Combine Clint and Roger's advise. You only need a couple of inches on both sides but make sure that you are flat the length of the board. Also use 'winding sticks' to check your board for twist before you run it through the thickness planer. I bought inexpensive aluminum angles at the BORG to use as winding sticks.

[Frank Drew]

You can use a 6" if you remove fence and guard..
But you can take two passes one one left side jointing 1/2 the board then remove fence and do right hand 1/2.

This is very effective and faster than hand planing; I've flattened lots of stuff wider than whatever jointer I was using this way.

I've never used a planer sled, as Glenn suggests, but many here recommend that method.

[Don C Peterson]

I'll second what Robert said. I use hand planes to establish one reference surface and then take it to the planer to complete the job and bring the piece to thickness.

I find that I don't need or want a jointer (at least a tailed one) at all, but I'm far too lazy to do without a planer...

[David Romano]

Build yourself a sled for the planer. I used 48" long 1"x1" angle iron (check them for straightness), 3/4" plywood and waxed hardwood runners. The sled will allow you to face joint boards up to about 4 1/2 feet long, and the width of the planer. Place the board on it, concave side up, shim the edges and put a stop block at the trail edge to keep the board from moving back. I've done this very successfully. There's an article in FWW from a year or 2 back describing it.

David

[Chuck Harris]

I usually rip the board if the cup or twist is severe. This lets me pass it through the jointer and flatten one side with fewer passes removing less material.

After ripping I mark the sides "A-A, B-B" ect. on the convex side. After the jointing one face joint both edges using the jointed face as the reference.

Then I match up my marks and reglue the board. It doesn't take as long as you might think. Once reglued I can plane and dimension.

I just turned two old dry walnut boards into a bookmatched 30" X48" table top this way.