Originally Posted by
Jim Matthews
Would you follow this approach, as a casual woodworker? Some of my wider Walnut boards at 6 quarters weigh near 100 pounds.
Working around big stock in a small space is a chore.
I can't answer that question as it's hard for me to put myself into "casual woodworker" mindset. Woodworking is more of an art pursuit for me like Andrew mentioned up above somewhere. I just plain prefer taking a raw board from the start and I prefer the control that milling it from rough brings in that pursuit. S4S certainly has its place, especially for folks who are not able or not desirous of dealing with rough lumber. There's nothing wrong with it at all. There certainly can be some inconsistencies in thickness, etc., so one has to be careful shopping. But that's the case with rough, too, honestly.
Working "big things" can be and is a challenge relative to space. I occasionally get the privilege of working with big slabs, etc., and if they exceed a certain size, I'm at least thankful that one of my local suppliers can handle surfacing if I need that and they don't charge much for the effort, either. For more "regular sized" projects I break down long boards before I even start processing them, other than occasionally skimming a board to make sure I understand what I have for grain and color. I try to take great care relative to grain and color when selecting material for a given project, regardless of its nature or source.
I do understand that S4S is very much a part of many commercial concerns, too, as it can save time and we all know the saying about that. It can work well if they have a good supplier that they can trust to provide good consistency and that's whether it's final dimension stock or "proud of final" that they still lightly process for thickness and edges on their own equipment.
Last edited by Jim Becker; 08-14-2020 at 8:51 AM.
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