How do they do that then?

[dicktimber]

Looking at a US woodworking site the otherday I noticed a guy from the UK asking how the Americans managed to obtain a face side on wide boards,ie 10 inch and 12 inch wide, before thicknessing them.
Given that they use ( in general) separate planers which in general (again are only 6 inch wide, and separate thicknessers.
The answers came back that many of them flattened wide boards with a hand plane!!!!!!
Now I know there are traditionalists out there but come on in this day and age.
Can you immagine making a tall bookcase and planing six foot by 10 inch boards to get a face side :roll: ...???? or
Maybe they just use lots of bits glued up? :lol:

Anyone else any ideas????


Mike

 

[Philly]

Mike
You can make a sled to "surface plane" wide boards through your thicknesser - search the forum, I'm sure there are a few designs on here somewhere.
Philly

 

[OPJ]

They must be winding him up, surely? :shock:

Another way would be to use a router on a pair of skis; but you'd still need a flat reference base to work from which would have to be both longer and considerably wider than the workpiece...

Or, as you said, rip the board down and re-joint it afterwards. But, you'd have to alternate the growth rings and so it'd be obvious you hadn't used one full-width board.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Maybe they just use lots of bits glued up? :lol:

Probably. 10" or 12" wide boards wouldn't be available in many species of timber and, if they were, they wouldn't be very stable and would be very expensive. Gluing together narrower boards is standard practice.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[soundaz]

I was watching a couple vids on you tube the other day from Egale Woodworking, a yankee workshop. The guy there was gluing pieces flat together then using a broard belt sanding machine to get a uniform thickness.

 

[Karl]

Surfacing boards by hand isn't difficult - I have just been surfacing some Oak boards, 8" wide by 36" long. Each board was surfaced in about 5 minutes.

Admittedly, these boards didn't have any twist (more difficult to remove), but they did have significant cupping.

Cheers

Karl

 

[Digit]

Seems like a hiding for nothing, 'cos when you've done it it is unlikely to look as good as a panelled end, IMO, and pretty unstable to boot.

Roy.

 

[Dave S]

Or, as you said, rip the board down and re-joint it afterwards. But, you'd have to alternate the growth rings and so it'd be obvious you hadn't used one full-width board.

Why would you have to? I know why one normally does it, but if you ripped down 12" wide timber and then re-jointed it without alternating the growth rings, I'm not sure why it wouldn't be the same as if you had left the timber in 1 piece. :?

Dave

 

[dicktimber]

Jointing would solve the problem......but don't you thing drawer fronts, especially red wood/ pine never finish properly and a line is visible no matter how you try to match the pieces together??
Mike