It`s hard work PARing

[Jacob]

Jacob,

I presume that from combining your responses above that it would best to cut a non flat board to the nominal lengths first as this will both ease any problems in ripping on the table saw but also minimise waste when flattening the board?

Bob

Exactly right! In the long run it saves wood as you can use thinner sawn boards. Bought ex1" PAR comes about 18mm but if you do it yourself you can get 20mm or more from your 1", depending on a lot of variables of course.
Sometimes 1" stuff is slightly over size and you can get short lengths the full 25mm flat and thicknessed, though this is rare.

 

[Jacob]

........... plane it so there`s a fairly good face, then thickness down to 20mm flipping the wood each pass.......
al

It's also normal to plane the best face flat first and then do all your thicknessing on the worst face.
The logic is that the more of the best face you remove the worse it gets, and vice versa. You have to check that the best face is staying flat whilst being thicknessed, as it might need another pass as stresses are relieved and the thing starts curling.

 

[jack55]

alph, your not alone I am also trying to square off some oak. Trust me to buy a piece with a twist in it (wind). I did cut it into short pieces just a couple of inches longer than the finished length. Can't blame my planer or thicknesser so its down to me and technique or lack of it. I used an old electric hand plane to lightly skim of the top rubbish. Then I am hand planning the faces until i get a flat face before jointing off that face, then using a square on the bandsaw table to check the twist. Hand planning the twist before running it over the planner then through the thicknesser. It seems to work but not sure if its the right technique or if the twist will reappear.

 

[Modernist]

To correct someone's blonde moment on the previous page cupped timber should be ripped Concave side UP so as not to nip the blade and kick back.
THIS IS IMPORTANT.

Re crosscutting this should be done first to minimise the amount of waste to flatten, and yield not only the maximum thickness but the most possibilities for choosing attractive figuring.

 

[No skills]

To correct someone's blonde moment on the previous page cupped timber should be ripped Concave side UP so as not to nip the blade and kick back.
THIS IS IMPORTANT.
quote]

Was wondering about that, thanks.

 

[al3ph]

Yeah that's sort of what I do, get the best face flat on the planer then bring the bad face clean with the thicknesser I usually give the good face a pass or two, once both faces are good I alternate the faces until I reach the require thickness.

........... plane it so there`s a fairly good face, then thickness down to 20mm flipping the wood each pass.......
al

It's also normal to plane the best face flat first and then do all your thicknessing on the worst face.
The logic is that the more of the best face you remove the worse it gets, and vice versa. You have to check that the best face is staying flat whilst being thicknessed, as it might need another pass as stresses are relieved and the thing starts curling.

 

[al3ph]

Don't envy you that one, I've had to deal with some cupping, which isn't to hard to deal with, but twist would mean I'd get very little usable thickness out of 27mm, and I wouldn't trust the wood not to warp after getting it true.

Been fairly luck with the oak I got, purchased 10 cubic foot for £300 delivered, which seems reasonable.

alph, your not alone I am also trying to square off some oak. Trust me to buy a piece with a twist in it (wind). I did cut it into short pieces just a couple of inches longer than the finished length. Can't blame my planer or thicknesser so its down to me and technique or lack of it. I used an old electric hand plane to lightly skim of the top rubbish. Then I am hand planning the faces until i get a flat face before jointing off that face, then using a square on the bandsaw table to check the twist. Hand planning the twist before running it over the planner then through the thicknesser. It seems to work but not sure if its the right technique or if the twist will reappear.

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

PARing can be a time consuming task.

First I cut the boards to a rough length always leaving an inch or two just encase there is a snipe and to make sure the ends can be squared up once its planed. If you cut to accurate lengths before you hit the planer or TS then your finished ends may not be sqaure due to to twist knocking the board out of square as you push it to the fence.

Ill then work out if I can get more then 1 length from the width of the board, if so ill rip these now, if not ill leave it as long as it will fit on/in my planer.

Once I have them all cut to rough length I test each piece on a flat surface to choose the first correct face to plane first and which "side" end. Ill then pass each length through to flatten one face, once done ill adjust the guard and plane the side on all.

Over to the TS for me where ill square up or rip down the rough side. If ripping I do this now so the "waste" part that may well be wide enough to keep for something else will already have a flat and true side.

Normally the TS cut is smooth enough not to plane the just cut side so ill leave it, if not ill then run this side over then planer.

Now ill run all the pieces through the thicknesser but until I have passed each board through enough times to remove all the rough I will not consider turning the board as this could knock them sides out of square if there is a twist on the side your placing on the thicknesser bed. Once all the rough is off ill turn the board as I get a nicer finish out of my thicknesser then I do when surface planing.

Now ill square up once end of each board (opposite end if there is any snipe), ill only take off a kerf width, then ill set the stop to the required length and square up the final end.

There isn't just 1 correct way now days, with many different machines capable of squaring stock and still the hand tools way, the correct way becomes the correct way for you thats 1 safe 2 gets the boards square and true.

If keeping your boards as long as possible you need to consider the weight factor. I assume them thats said just that means cut to rough length and keeps some extra not just 10% on the length, im referring, just encase people are thinking to not cut to rough length first. I get boards delivered at 4-5m and I would never consider trying to get them through my T/P. As said by cutting to as short length as you can get away with you also cut down on the amount of material you will need to remove which also saves some time & effort in lumping larger boards around. Most timber is delivered untrue, even PAR.

 

[Bradshaw Joinery]

Hi guys,

just to cear a fw things up from a good few years experience

in batch production run projects/jobs, jacob is correct in saying to cut timber to useable manageable sizes before any more machining processes, ill use the example given, a dozen 1 foot lengths, why not 3x4' lenghts? especially if the machines your using suffer 'snipe' its going to be harder to handle a long length, than 3 manageable ones. common sence applies imo. also helps with twisted timber and bent lengths. should be looking at your cutting list, deciding on what timber is best for what part, no use cutting up a 7' board for rails then using a twisted 8' one for a door stile......aswell as looking at the quality of the wood.

sawing cupped timber, concave facing up. if you face it down, you may be ok on thinner stock, but id like to see a 3"x16" (for example) board ripped down concave side down. it would at best stall the saw, but pinching on the blade could throw wood and debris back at you, damage the blade/saw/motor, and of course the piece of wood. as said fence back edge just past cutting face of the saw blade. if you have a full lenght fence, make a add on fence to allow some clearance ~(bolted to existing)

Back to the OP,

your Par seems to be a lot of back and forth,
dimension your timber on the saw pre planing, this will remove most of the stresses too
then plane face and edge, turn planer over and thickness back face and edge.
if you have a planer that can only take a small amount off at once, trim pieces with saw after face and edge planing.

hope ive made a informative first post!

 

[promhandicam]

As Jacob and others have said cut to manageable lengths first before planing and thicknessing. It is stupid trying to handle an 8 foot board over a planer - particularly a hobby one if you then proceed to cut it into 4 x 2 foot pieces. There is also a lot less wastage - particularly if you have bought waney edged boards as the op has done. You might loose an inch at the end of each piece due to snipe but you will waste a lot more trying to create PAR from long lengths of waney edged board.

 

[al3ph]

From my (very) limited experience shorter lengths are much easier to deal with, I'm doing the top of my unit as 3 lengths at 1400x150 for ascetics but the two lower shelves I'll be doing as three lengths of two sections (offset), this means easier handling and also much less wastage, my stock is 2400mm, I'd have 900mm "waste" if I did them as one length.

As Jacob and others have said cut to manageable lengths first before planing and thicknessing. It is stupid trying to handle an 8 foot board over a planer - particularly a hobby one if you then proceed to cut it into 4 x 2 foot pieces. There is also a lot less wastage - particularly if you have bought waney edged boards as the op has done. You might loose an inch at the end of each piece due to snipe but you will waste a lot more trying to create PAR from long lengths of waney edged board.

 

[Benchwayze]

I think if I was hand dimensioning, rough-sawn timber, as I used to HAVE to do, I would listen to Jacob.
I'd rather square off four, three-foot lengths separately, than one twelve foot piece. In Rob's case, if you want to decide first, how to utilise the grain, then keeping the planks as a whole is helpful; but handling 12 foot planks - even over my 12" Sedgwick - can be awkward, and without help, doesn't always result in a flat 'lump of wood'!

Six feet is about the most I can manage in my shop anyway, unless I roll the planer nearer the open door. This is something I do only rarely, because of the neighbours. I've had no complaints thus far, so maybe that's why. I don't plane full width either if I don't have to. The noise levels increase as does wear on the cutters. This enables me to use a set of cutters for much longer between re-grinds, as I can move the fence and use different areas of the block, spreading the wear. I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this?

As for ripping, I observe the same rules as for the planer. Working alone in small shop, it's safer to cut all pieces to length first, which I do by hand, or across trestles, in the yard, with a circular saw. Again, mauling twelve foot planks over a table or bandsaw, is no fun on your own. So I fall on Jacob's side of the fence here, with the proviso that it depends on the job.

HTH :wink: