cutting order - panels

[ajbell]

Hi All

I want to make some oak panels 12" wide from rough cut boards which are 7" wide, i.e 2 boards wide per panel

I have rough cut them to length and planed a face edge on each board on my PT and I am almost finished thicknessing them on the PT but I have a few questions.

1. When thicknessing I have been placing the face side down on my PT so I am removing material only from the non face side- do I continue removing material from the non-face side OR when the faces are parallel do I take material from alternative faces to ensure even material removal?

2. When I get to the desired thickness do I then plane a face edge on ONLY the edges to be glued OR do I square both edges on both boards to be joined? If I am going to rip the glued board to final width then I guess I will need to have a square edge to run against my saw fence so I need atleast 3 square edges before gluing. I will probably hand plane the joint before gluing so will end up redoing the face edge I had already done on the PT

3. The glued panel will obviously be 14" wide is it normal practice to ensure that both boards in the finished panel are approx the same width when the board is brought to final dimension (i.e in this case would I then rip 1" off each side of the board)

4. OR should I rip the boards to final width BEFORE gluing so the finished panel only needs cut to length?

Thanks

Andy

 

[joiner_sim]

Hi Andy,

When thicknessing I would get the non face side cleaned up and once you have done that I would say it'd be okay to take off either side.

I would rip the boards down before glueing up, but only 20mm off, allowing you 10mm once glued to clean up, sqaure up if needs be.

I reckon you could plane the edges to be glued, and then just glue straight up if you wanted to. Then when the glue has gone off, plane one edge on the planer and work off this to get the panel to the correct dimension, on the table saw.

 

[Chems]

Take equal amounts from each side, helps keep the moisture content even on both sides.

I'd rip of either side equally for looks.

Remember, keep it as long as you can for as long as you can! Or in this case as wide as you can

 

[OLD]

The thicknesser usually gives a better finish so plane the face as well .The edges to be glued should be square use the planer or table saw with fine blade. Cupping and movement on a wide panel can be a problem so glue a board that will cup up to one that will down and consider cutting into 4 boards if the panel will not be held in alignment .Cut the final board to size on the table saw to get the best looking panel.

 

[ajbell]

thanks for the replies

I will use either the table saw or planner to square the "other" edge prior to gluing and keep the board as wide as possible till after gluing.

Andy

 

[mr grimsdale]

Sometimes possible to join boards such that the grain on each board is parallel to the glued edge and the glue join becomes less visible. This might mean the boards are tapered but in the opposite directions, making the end product parallel.