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:
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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?