Cubic Foot Timber Boards, 260mm Planer Thicknesser Waste?

[Chems]

So if your waney edged boards are 12 Inchs by 12 foot long and your Planer Width is only 260mm does this mean you have to cut and inch of each board or does it work out about right after youve taken the waney edge off?

Also Thicknesser capacity, on a combo machine is the width of that the same as the planer?

 

[MooreToolsPlease]

I don't use waney edge boards, but I would imagine the amount you have to cut off to remove the waney edge depends on how the tree was cut.
but if you have a 260mm planer then thats the maximum you will be able to plane.
The blades are the same for both the planer and thicknesser so you can use the same width material on both.

 

[Harbo]

Most of the wood I use is from sawn waney edge boards which I have to cut down to a maximum of 250mm to suit my P/T.
I do not waste the off cuts but cut that down to whatever maximum size I can squeeze out. If necessary shortening the lengths again to maximise the width. I throw very little away.
When I buy the stuff, from a local timber yard, the widths, lengths and thickness's are only measured approximately and any poor, possibly unusable areas deducted from the calculation.

I start with my portable circular saw and a guide bar on a set of saw horses and having cut a reasonable straight edge cut the rest on the table saw.

Rod

 

[OPJ]

It might be a better idea for you to rip them down in to slightly narrower boards anyway, for the sake of stability. You can always flip them so the growth rings on the end grain alternate with each board - you'll have a table top of panel that's much more stable this way.

If you do decide to try and run 250/260mm wide boards through the thicknesser in one go, do so in very shallow passes, certainly take off no more than 1mm at a time. You be working the machine quite with such a wide board and deep cuts only produce more shavings, which can clog up the extraction and get imprinted on to your work from the feed rollers.

 

[Chems]

All good advice, regards making boards, does everyone biscuit or just glue?

 

[BradNaylor]

Those are some mighty big planks - they are going to be very unwieldy. Do you need 12' timber for a project and have you got 12' of free space at either end of your planer/thicknesser and table saw? I certainly haven't!

The first thing I would do is cut them to more manageable lengths - say 2 x 6' or a 8' and a 4' from each board. I would then straighten up the edges on the table saw using the simple method explained in this thread. https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... =tod+evens

Then get to work on the thicknesser!

Cheers
Dan

 

[jasonB]

The thicknesser capacity of combo machines is usually less than the planing capacity, a 260mm planer is likely to thickness 180-200mm

Wastage will depend on what part of the butt the plank came from, if it were near the center then the bark will be at 90deg and not need as much off as a board that was part way through where the bark may be at 45degrees to the surface, this is where thickness of board will also have a bigger effect on waste.

Type of timber is also a consideration, oak and walnut for example will have quite a thick band of sap wood that also needs removing. Beech or maple will have very little sapwood.

Jason

 

[OPJ]

You're talking about the depth rather than the width I take it, Jason?

So, while you should be able to thickness 260mm wide timber down to 19/20mm thick, or whatever finished size you're after, you won't be able to stand it on its edge and gauge an accurate finished width.

For that then, you'll need to plan one edge true on the planer, rip it to 1 or 2mm oversize on the table saw and then carefully put this sawn edge across the planer with the same setting for depth of cut (1 or 2mm).

 

[mister henderson]

I used to try to work out what I needed and cut it out of the board in pieces only slightly bigger than the finished sizes I needed. I often used a jigsaw for this.

The advantage is that it the original plank sawing has been ungenerous (as the english stuff frequently is) then you are more likely to get the thickness you need by keeping the lengths of each piece as short as possible. I used to allow a couple of inches at each end for P/T snipe and potential shakes.

Also, using the jigsaw allowed me to cut overlapping shapes, better than crosscutting with a circular saw.

Keeping each piece as short and as narow as possible before P/T also allows distortion due to the removal of internal stress or tension to take place before further processing.

Taking down to finished thickness in stages, with some days in between, is also good.