board preparation - bright ideas needed

[promhandicam]

I've just taken delivery of 50 rough planed boards which are between 7 and 8 foot long, 1 inch thick and about 10 inches wide. Not quite sure what they are only that they have come from a village in southern Ghana and that they aren’t teak. I’ll try and post some photos when I get a bit cleaned up. Any way, the boards have been put through a P/T and so the surfaces aren't too bad - there are still one or two where you can see the chainsaw cut on one side but that is par for the course. My problem is that the edges are still rough sawn – cut with the aforementioned chainsaw – so when I say rough I mean really rough.

How would you suggest that I true up the edges? I have at my disposal my P/T and table saw. I also have made up a guide for my circular saw for ripping sheet material, but doing 50 1 inch thick hardwood boards with this would take a while and give the CS a hammering. I wondered about clamping several boards together and then running them over the planer but not too sure about that bright idea.

I guess that once I have one straight edge the other I can do using the rip fence on the table saw – finishing off on the P/T

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Steve

 

[woodbloke]

I would use the hand held circular saw and cramp a straight edge to the board. This will give you a reasonably straight edge which can then be planed either by hand (wooden jack or long jointer if you have one) or put over the P/T. I wouldn't recommend cramping them together as the boards may become to unwieldy to handle (if you're on your own). Which ever way you do it, 50 or so boards will take you some time.

It definitely won't be true teak - that is only found on the Indian sub-continent (to the best of my knowledge) so I suspect it may well be iroko or something similar. What you going to do with all that lovely timber? - Rob

 

[WoodStoat]

You could try using something like a 10x2 as a carrier for the boards - I have done this with a Stenner resaw with good results. One screw in the last inch or so at each end, along with the weight of the hardwood plank, should hold it quite firmly enough as long as you don't go too fast. Keep a good pressure on top to prevent tilting and it ought to work ok.

 

[Niki]

Hi Steve

I posted it but somhow the pictures disappeard.

So, here it is


niki

 

[Anonymous]

Basically like Woodstoat says, you need to make a sled of a piece of hardwood or plywood a little longer and narrower than your boards and with a true straight edge. If available, fix a toggle clamp at each end to secure your board to the sled with the straight edge protruding. Otherwise screw them at each end.

Then, with the straight edge against the fence, run the sled and board through the table saw, making sure your blade is nice and sharp.

Et voila! You have a straight edge to work from.

 

[Anonymous]

Niki beat me to it - with piccies too!

 

[WoodStoat]

I especially like the screwed-on trowel idea.

 

[engineer one]

you don't say what you are going to make, so there may well be much to be said for cross cutting the boards shorter, to make them more manageable.

the perceived wisdom is to cut one edge with a circular saw, and then use the table saw. often it is suggested to use a piece of angle iron as a guide for the cs..

planing the edges on the p/t is a very dodgy thing to do single handed with such long and probably heavy boards, how do you keep your weight in the right places???

good luck though, and piccies of what you make please.

paul :wink:

 

[promhandicam]

thanks for all the tips - I think I will go a version of Niki's set-up with the (as ever) excellent photos. :wink:

As to what I'm going to make well, some will go into book shelves for which I will require some long bits but some shorter lengths too - which as Paul suggests, I will cross cut first to make them more manageable. I also want to build a stand / cupboards to support a 5ft x 2ft x 2ft aquarium. This will need to be substantial as it will weigh in at over 500kg when full (if i've done my maths right). To build this I also have 15 lengths of 3" x 3" so in total about 33 cu ft. for which I paid the equivalent of about £260 (delivered) 8)

As to the species - I think that in all likelihood it is Afromosia. The carpenter that I bought it from says it is teak which I understand is grown in Ghana but only comercially. The wood that I have is from a tree that was felled about 15 years ago on land owned by my carpenter friend, in his village.

As requested I will post some piccies as work progresses - I hope to get something underway over christmas but don't want to rush into something and end up with a bunch of bananas - we have enough of them already :lol:

All the best,

Steve