1 Attachment(s)
Getting Started - Milling Boards for the First Time
Hi, all -- I am new member (obviously), with about a year's worth of experience in woodworking and a small shop in Massachusetts. I am starting to work on building a proper bench, based on the Not So Big Workbench plans from FWW (http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/...-big-workbench), and sourced my raw lumber from a local sawyer this weekend. As of yesterday, I have a decent number of board feet of ash and some red oak, destined for use in the bench:
Attachment 273342
My question is where to begin with the milling process, specifically with the ash, which has bark on the edges and is currently in 7-9' long pieces, stacked in the shop. The wood is fairly dry, having been in a solar kiln for most of the year, but it needs to be converted into S4S lumber before I can begin working on the bench, obviously.
For context: I've built a few pieces (an 8' long farm table, and a queen-sized bed with a T&G headboard, mortise-and-tenon rails, and knock-down joinery), and have a relatively complete hobbyist-level shop (table saw, 6" jointer, 12" planer, 14" bandsaw, mortising machine, compound miter saw, router and router table, random orbital sander, and the usual mix of hand tools.) My understanding of the milling process is that I'll joint a face on the jointer first, then plane the other face parallel to the first, joint an edge on the jointer, and then rip the other edge using the table saw. A couple of things have me scratching my head, though:
- Can I reasonably start by cross-cutting the longer boards with, saw, a circular saw or on the crosscut sled, to reduce the length of the pieces I'll be working with?
- Similarly, can I do a rough rip for the wider boards using the bandsaw, so that I can joint the initial face on my measly 6" jointer?
- What do I do about those thin strips of bark? Bandsaw? Awl? Draw knife?
rough lumber - manage the moisture content
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kevin M O'Brien
The wood is fairly dry, having been in a solar kiln for most of the year, but it needs to be converted into S4S lumber before I can begin working on the bench, obviously.
Hi Kevin, welcome to the Creek. A bench build is a great project. I'm not sure what your experience is working with rough lumber. Judging by your questions about the milling process, I thought I'd throw in a few suggestions about working with rough lumber aside from the basic steps to milling.
I haven't researched this thoroughly but IMO, I don't think solar kilns will drive bound water from wood cells as well as a heated kiln will. I view solar kilned wood more like air-dried lumber, where the free water in the wood is pretty well gone, but a significant amount of bound water in the cells remains. I give air-dried lumber plenty of time to acclimate in my shop before I work with it. I give kiln-dried lumber some time to acclimate as well, but not quite as much.
Wood dries from the outside in. So, as you cut and open up boards exposing fresh faces, the interior of those boards will have higher moisture content than the surfaces. You don't want to invest a lot of effort milling faces on fresh lumber and then 2 days later not have a square edge in the lot. So, as you work with this lumber, you should give it time to rest and come to equilibrium.
I would recommend this schedule:
- cut to rough length or not (your choice)
- stack/sticker 2-3 weeks
- rough dimension, rough surface*
- stack / sticker 2-3 days
- mill to final dimension (and use as quickly as possible)
* I try to remove about equal amounts of material from each opposing face when rough surfacing so that the moisture content is roughly balanced on opposing sides of the board. I think it helps the board to come to equilibrium better.
Have fun with your bench build!