Do you always start with the jointer?

[Curt Harms]

The key statement is "fairly flat". If fairly flat is fine with you, then okay. But fairly flat is not okay in my shop. I usually buy my stock hit or miss planed to 15/16". That gives me material to further flatten and thickness to size.

Yup, plane a little if needed to determine grain and appearance then cut to rough length, flatten, plane etc. etc.

[kent wardecke]

Watching Norm and trial and error is how i learned wood working. consequently I don't have jointer skills
So my 6 inch delta jointer sits unused.
I may cut the rough stock into manageable pieces then It's the planer bow side up then alternating sides until both sides are flat and parallel. I have a sled i use to straighten crooked boards. My table saw cuts are good enough to glue up
After reading all the replies maybe I'm doing it wrong :-)

[Andrew Seemann]

It depends on how flat the board is when I get it, whether I face joint it or not. I'm sure many will disagree with this, but if the board is flat enough to go through the planer without rocking or jumping, it doesn't need face jointing. It may be rough, but if it goes though the planer flat enough, face jointing is an unnecessary step. If a board needs some help, I run smaller boards on my 6" jointer; wider ones, I take a jack plane and knock off the high spots until it will run flat through the planer. I never have issues with flatness or thickness after I am done. I do have the big honkin' Grizzly 15" planer, so that may help. I always plane each side of the board at least once, mostly because the Grizzly leaves a much better finish than my jointer.

If you have severely twisted, cupped, or bowed lumber, it is best not to use that piece, at least not in that dimension. Even if you face joint that out of it, and perfectly S4S it, the twist, cup, or bow will likely return once the humidity changes. Remember the board was sawn flat, but still dried that way. If it gains or looses moisture, it will move or relax that way again. Myself, I leave those boards at the lumber yard; they tend to be nothing but trouble.

That said, it seems like most of the "rough" 4/4 I get these days has been skip planed. Not sure why, maybe so they can stack it more tightly when they ship it. It it is handy though.

[Jacob Reverb]

I almost never face joint. Just cut maybe 1/32" oversize and joint the edges for the joint. If something is ruff and needs a lick off the face, I'll put it through planer.

So for me, it's usually cut on saw first, then joint if needed. If you need a straight edge on a board, you're better off cutting it to length first, anyway -- less material to remove on jointer.

For tabletops and such, I'll generally glue it up and then hand-plane with a jackplane. IMO, a tabletop need not be (and will never remain, anyway), perfectly planar. Stuff moves.

YMMV.

[Joe Jensen]

I try to always buy my lumber rough sawn or skip planed. In my experience hardwood is never really flat at the lumber yard. When making something I cut pieces out of the rough sawn stock slightly oversize. I then use the jointer to flatten one side. Then to the planer to thickness. I try to be careful to remove about the same amount from each side to keep the part as flat as I can. I then use the jointer to flatten and edge and the to the saw to rip to width. I then cut one end square and then finally to length. Since I started doing this many years ago clamping glue ups is easy, no need to crank the clamps down hard as everything is flat and straight.

It's to the point that I won't buy hardwood surfaced to 3/4" as I can never get parts flat and straight enough out of it for my tastes. Having said all this, I am not a production shop, just a serious hobbiest. In commercial shop you would straight line rip, glue up panels, and then flatten the glue ups on the wide belt .

[Tom Bain]

It's to the point that I won't buy hardwood surfaced to 3/4" as I can never get parts flat and straight enough out of it for my tastes. Having said all this, I am not a production shop, just a serious hobbiest. In commercial shop you would straight line rip, glue up panels, and then flatten the glue ups on the wide belt .

As a mere hobbiest, this was a revelation to me when I spent a week at a high-end commercial furniture operation a few years ago. The wood never went to the jointer. Ripped, glued up in a giant hydraulic clamp assembly, then to the TimeSaver (very aptly named) ... and out comes perfectly flat and dimensioned panels almost like magic, then off to the CNC to dimension/cut parts.

Thankfully, I find it satisfying to dress lumber on the jointer and planer watching as the rough lumber reveals itself, so don't really mind the effort.

[Brian Holcombe]

My process is to cut rough to length, bandsaw rough to size followed by face jointing, edge jointing, edge up through the planer to parallel, then thickness. After which I cut one end square and then to length.

Throughout this process I’m eliminating defects from the final part.

This is more time consuming then working S2S through to a glueup then through the timesaver but I’ll argue that it makes a more accurate result.

The range of tolerance for flatness depends on the product, often enough things like table tops don’t need to super flat if they’re being drawn to a base, but parts that will be worked through joinery machines are best made as flat and true as reasonably possible.

[mark mcfarlane]

...

The joy of working with perfectly flat stock, can not be exaggerated.

...

This ^.

That being said, I'm kind of like the OP in that if I don't need an exact rectangular chunk of wood for a specific part I may not joint it. The more complex the project the more likely every part gets treated the same and jointed.

[Andrew Seemann]

One thing to add is "plane long; edge joint short" I always plane boards as long as practical, so that the least amount is lost to snipe. I then rough cut the boards to length (unless the final length is really short) and edge joint. The shorter the boards, the more accurate your edge joint will be, especially if you don't have a really long jointer.

[Mike Cutler]

Just curious, do you always start by flattening every board?

I do not. Often my stock is fairly flat to begin with

But reading here seems like some of you always flatten just out of principle

No, I don't necessarily "start" with jointer, usually I get the material close to length and width first by other various means. After that, yeah, it hits the jointer first, and then the planer.
Like others, I also buy "rough cut" lumber to start off with, so it's kind of a necessity.

[Alan Lightstone]

SCMS to rough length, then I face joint, rest for a day, edge joint, then through the planar after another rest. Then to drum sander to get dimensions perfect to 0.01 (OCD). Eventually to table saw to cut to size.

Lots of steps, but straight, correctly sized wood.

[Jim Becker]

Well, I may be breaking some cardinal rule. But yes I chop things up to smaller sizes as a starting point (the smaller the piece the less out of flatness propagates).

Oh, I also break things down before milling. I generally skim them first if they are rough to insure I know "what's in there", mark them with chalk relative to the components i expect to take out of them, cut down to length (oversize) and then flatten and thickness them. It's very rare that a board is not "worthy" of at least one quick flattening pass before milling to thickness.

[Warren Lake]

skimming doestn tell all enough times with Cherry say pitch has gone or worse shown up once getting into the board deeper

[Jim Becker]

skimming doestn tell all enough times with Cherry say pitch has gone or worse shown up once getting into the board deeper

That's true...there can always be surprises lurking in the wood.

[Rod Sheridan]

I cut to a few mm oversized then joint and plane to finish size.......Regards, Rod