Buying and planing sawn timber, in place of PAR

[FrenchIan]

Guys, if I can pick your brains....

Up till now, I've been working with PAR oak from my local sawmill, making things like window sills, book shelves etc. There's a lot more needed in this house, so I decided to do more of the processing myself. The first step was to buy a table saw and learn to use that. Next was a router in a home-made router table. Still with PAR timber though, but that's about to change.

I've just bought a second-hand Planer/Thicknesser. It's not a grand one, only a local (french) version of a Woodstar PT85, but I've been practicing, and it works fine for me. All I need to do now is buy some sawn timber, and I'm away, but I've never bought and used sawn timber before.

I can plan things round two or three thicknesses of wood (say 25mm, 15mm and 10mm). Bearing in mind I buy from a sawmill and not a timber merchant, is it reasonable to ask for planks in these sizes, or am I expected to take half tree trunks and cut them to thickness myself?

What about width? I'd like to try and avoid joining (jointing?) planks if I can (not enough clamps or experience), but some shelves will be 200+mm wide. Can I get planks this wide? Are they extremely expensive?

What about wastage? Is it normal to buy planks in assorted widths and then rip them to size? Or, do I ask for wide planks, to minimise wastage?

Then there's pricing. Sawn timber seems to be priced by the cubic foot (cubic metre here). Given I need the timber in fairly thin sections, can I expect to pay more, to get it cut to these thicknesses, or does the price include some cutting down?

I'm sorry if these are trivial questions, but I want to avoid making a fool of myself when I next visit the sawmill - the language difference is bad enough!

Thanks

 

[Ironballs]

Hi Ian, I was where you're a couple of years ago and yes, it is daunting at first.

Rough planks or sawn timber are nothing to be fearful of, you just need to plan further ahead and examine your boards more closely. As with buying any timber you need to know what your finished size boards are and then add 6-10mm on each dimension for your sawn size. Be prepared to be flexible though, if you pick a very straight board you can work to closer dimensions, if however the board is cupped or twisted then you'll either need to remove more waste to get it flat or chop it into smaller sections.

It's also worth building a relationship with a yard and getting to understand their timber and how it's stored, if it's a draughty old shed then the timber may be quite moist and will need some seasoning at home (and may move), if it's indoors and heated then it will need less seasoning. It's also different for different timbers, this will come with experience, sometimes learned the hard way - bloody english cherry :wink:

Don't be put off by jointing either, it's a relatively simple skill to acquire and if there's one thing you will need lots of as you progress it's lots of clamps, so bite the bullet. My P/T will plane 260mm but only thickness to 165mm (handy that :roll: ), so even if I thickness by hand my boards aren't going to be too wide. Which is fine, if you have very wide boards then you increase the chance of them cupping on your finished piece. So get practicing your jointing and glueing/cramping.

Good luck

Damian

 

[L Harding]

with regard to the thickness question a good sawmill should be planking up to different thicknesses, none likes taking home the whole trunk!, although your going to have to get all the thicknesses you mentioned out of 1 inch stock. (although for the 25mm finished size theyre going to need to be a generous 1 inch and good and straight. some places do 3/4 and 1/2 boards for your smaller sizes but they'll normally charge you so much more per cubic for it its cheaper to just buy the inch and turn it into shavings, disappointing as it is. Unless you have a good and big band saw and you can deep cut the boards

with regards to cubic foot and cubic meter prices most places will charge different amounts for different stock thickness. For example euro oak in 2" would be a different price to euro oak in 4"

its not unreasonable to hope to find a plank you can finish to 200 wide at all (depending on what species you buying of course). To a point you have to except you wont find the perfect widths for every job and there will be ripping to do and wasted parts of the board, but find a friendly employee and persuade him to let you go through the pack until you find the boards that most suit your requirement.

 

[Tony Spear]

your going to have to get all the thicknesses you mentioned out of 1 inch stock. (although for the 25mm finished size theyre going to need to be a generous 1 inch and good and straight. some places do 3/4 and 1/2 boards for your smaller sizes

Do they work in imperial sizes "en France" then? :?

 

[yetloh]

Agree with other posters. I have a speadsheet which will allow you to work out what you need from a cutting list and also the cost based on price per cubic foot or metre for each thickness. If you would like a copy send me a PM with your email address.

Jim

 

[L Harding]

your going to have to get all the thicknesses you mentioned out of 1 inch stock. (although for the 25mm finished size theyre going to need to be a generous 1 inch and good and straight. some places do 3/4 and 1/2 boards for your smaller sizes

Do they work in imperial sizes "en France" then? :?

Hmm, dunno. At a guess, yes. But i could be wrong (thats guess work for you tho!)

 

[Ironballs]

I'll put a recommendation in for Jim's spreadie, it's very good

 

[FrenchIan]

Gents, thanks for the replies, and for the encouragement.

@Ironballs, you're right. I'll need to do more jointing, sooner or later.

I guess I have to speak to the sawmill, and see what they stock. As long as they have some thinner planks, close to what I want, I can always machine down or joint up to get the sizes I want. I guess that's half the fun of it now.

Whether they have the range or not is unknown. The one I use now has evolved into a manufacturer of bespoke furniture, with the sawmilling side as less important. Still very helpful, though.

(Re metric V imperial - while almost everything is metric, plumbing brassware is sized in imperial. I buy taps that have 3/8"BSP threads....)

Thanks again

 

[FrenchIan]

I'll put a recommendation in for Jim's spreadie, it's very good

Sorry, Jim, I meant to say thanks for the offer of the spreadsheet - I'll be very grateful for a copy. Just about to PM you.