Making a non-straight board straight again

[morpheus83uk]

Hello,

I have just purchased a lovely piece of walnut in a recent sale I went to, however in my haste I didn't catch that about 2.5 inches of one edge of the board was slightly curved out where the previous cut had been made. This is going to be a shelf so both edges need to be straight and I am wondering what the best approach would be for this?

Thanks

James

 

[MikeG.]

You're wanting to straighten an edge? Right?

Plane it with a hand plane. It will take you less time than it took you to write your question out. What were you planning to do with this board if not plane it?

 

[morpheus83uk]

That's a very good point!

Would it be the same if it was a long length which was cut incorrectly just taking more time?

 

[MikeG.]

That's a very good point!

Would it be the same if it was a long length which was cut incorrectly just taking more time?

Again, don't go thinking that it was cut incorrectly. Sawing boards is only a part of the process of producing a straight edge. The other major part is planing. Boards are sawn deliberately over-width to allow for planing. Further, even if they are sawn straight, boards (as you're discovering) don't necessarily stay straight. It is absolutely fundamental to woodworking that a sawn face is not a finished face.

Tell us about your tools, James. What have you got? Do you have any planes?

 

[RobinBHM]

Track saw

Router with guide bearing and long straight edge

Hand plane

 

[morpheus83uk]

I have a no 4 and no 5 hand plane. I was given an electric plane a while ago but it always seems to go wrong when I use that so I tend to avoid it.

As for the guide bearing I think I may have one of those but would have to find a long straight edge...

 

[Benchwayze]

An electric hand plane makes short work of cross-grain roughing of rough sawn lumber. That's what I use mine for.

John (hammer)

 

[AndyT]

One of the things I found hard to learn as a beginner is that it's not wasteful to end up with a much smaller piece of wood than you started with. It's a necessity. A tree never produces 100% usable straight boards. You need to remove the bark, the sapwood, the pith and the distorted bits.
Think of a tree as a watermelon or a pineapple!

 

[Trainee neophyte]

One of the things I found hard to learn as a beginner is that it's not wasteful to end up with a much smaller piece of wood than you started with. It's a necessity. A tree never produces 100% usable straight boards. You need to remove the bark, the sapwood, the pith and the distorted bits.
Think of a tree as a watermelon or a pineapple!

I still struggle to see turners put a huge tree trunk on a lathe, and after hours of frenzied wood shavings, proudly present a drinking straw width of intricate loveliness, but where did the tree go??!!