Can't flattened thin leg material

[chuck van dyck]

I'm building a side table designed by Mike Korsack and published in FWW. Super fun and seemingly easy build that is teaching me a lot.


Anyways, I ran into a problem with the legs. I ripped some stock to
1 1/8" x 1 1/8" and noticed a slight bow. I tried running them over the jointer but it just wouldn't go away. I had no choice but to go ahead and just taper them and hope it's not too noticeable. We'll see when I dry fit I guess.


I'm assuming it's cause I had the wrong type of stock. The cherry I'm using seems to have been plain sawn and the grain just doesn't seem right for legs.


Wondering what some of you guys think. Is there a way to flatten a thin stick like I have here? I think the plans called for 15/16ths tapered to 1/2" or something like that. I probably ended up 1" tapered to 1/2", but with a slight bow, which threw the tapered end a bit out of square.
Should I have flattened the board I ripped the legs from first?


I'm considering using some pretty straight grained ash I have laying around for the legs. I quite like ash and cherry together, but I'm not sure about the cherry apron with ash legs...

Thanks for any advice.

[Jim Becker]

If your jointer is adjusted properly, you should be able to remove a bow from a board. One thing you can't do is press down hard on the board or you'll just keep the bow instead of shaving off the higher ends. Technique matters.

For legs I prefer rift sawn stock so every face is straight grain.

[chuck van dyck]

If your jointer is adjusted properly, you should be able to remove a bow from a board. One thing you can't do is press down hard on the board or you'll just keep the bow instead of shaving off the higher ends. Technique matters.

For legs I prefer rift sawn stock so every face is straight grain.

Thanks Jim

I agree, rift sawn would be ideal, but don't have any on hand for this piece. I was careful to only apply pressure on the front of the piece.

I'm curious if this is usual when trying to flatten a small 1"x1"x26" piece like this.

I'm part of a group shop and the old 12" Oliver is pretty dialed in. I did notice I was taking a cut from the entire length, which I though was not ideal, but didn't seem avoidable.

[Jim Matthews]

How long since the legs were ripped have they "rested" in your shop?

[Tom Bender]

To joint these straight secure them between less flexible, sacrificial rails; 1/2" x 2" should do it. You can use double stick tape, hot melt glue or just clamps. Then you can joint them on a jointer or with a hand plane. Safer to handle on a jointer and easier to stay flat with a hand plane.

[Brian Runau]

To joint these straight secure them between less flexible, sacrificial rails; 1/2" x 2" should do it. You can use double stick tape, hot melt glue or just clamps. Then you can joint them on a jointer or with a hand plane. Safer to handle on a jointer and easier to stay flat with a hand plane.

I had the same problem working with quarter sawn white oak and cutting a 3/4" x 1" stringer for in between drawers for the front of a dresser. I jointed them and only pulled them through no pressure on the wood beyond the front end on the out feed table and only enough pressure to get the wood to move away from the cutter head. Had trouble getting them flat. Not to be thick as a brick, but when you say "between" you mean put 2" wide stock on either side attached by doubled sided tape? thanks brian

[Steve Rozmiarek]

If you have access to a slider saw, clamp it to the carriage with the bow out and straight line rip that out. Works if the wood is done moving. Otherwise a jointer will work if you have perfect form.

[Christopher Giles]

Are you sure you had the concave side of the leg down when you jointed? If the convex side is down, you will keep the warp.

[Tom Bender]

Yes Brian, sandwich your 1 x 1 stock between 1/2 x 2 sacrificial rails so you are jointing a 2" wide surface.

[John TenEyck]

I prefer to cut tapers using a tapering sled on my tablesaw. Then a single pass on the jointer will clean up the faces, or a swipe or two with a hand plane.

You can get rift sawn leg stock from plain sawn lumber if your lumber is thick enough to allow for it. You can get a 1" square out of 6/4 stock. Just rip it at 45 degrees.

John

[Mel Fulks]

The wood often moves to straighter when you face the convex side. You have to be careful. Set jointer for just 1 /16th.

[chuck van dyck]

Thanks for the replies. So part of the challenge was building this piece using 100% scrap. I work in a group shop where a lot of stuff gets deemed not useful.

The leg material was a bit under 5/4 to start with. After a few passes it seemed clear it just wasn’t gonna happen.

The wood often moves to straighter when you face the convex side. You have to be careful. Set jointer for just 1 /16th.

I’m gonna have to experiment with that.

Anyways, the lesson here for me was, straight is over rated when it comes to thin tapered legs like this. Completely unnoticeable. Will eventually trim some wobble off, but even that is very minute and might better be remedied with hot glue and felt.

QUOTE=Tom Bender;3100418]To joint these straight secure them between less flexible, sacrificial rails; 1/2" x 2" should do it. You can use double stick tape, hot melt glue or just clamps. Then you can joint them on a jointer or with a hand plane. Safer to handle on a jointer and easier to stay flat with a hand plane.[/QUOTE]

I envisioned something like this but couldn’t get around to it. Would love to see a pic or drawing if it’s not a pain.

I botched a drawer front when cutting pins so now I need to decide if I’ll wait until there’s more cherry in the scrap bin or if I should use a different wood on one of the fronts. Might look kind of interesting “patchwork”. This particular drawer is 2 1/4” x 3”. So quite small.