Plane now or later?

Hi Ron,

I generally plane as I am going to use the wood. But in your case, since you are borrowing the planer, you might want to go ahead and plane them to thickness unless you have ready access to the planer. If you do then it would be a good excuse for a visit as well.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

This is pretty complicated, Ron. Usually when you get a stock of new lumber you want to leave it in your shop as long as possible to acclimate to your shop’s climate before doing anything to it. Then, when you start the project, you plane it to about 1/16th over you final thickness and let it sit another few days. If you take it to your friend’s shop and plane it to final thickness, it will warp when you bring it back to your shop. I’m not sure what I would do in your position – maybe let it sit in your shop for a couple of weeks, then take it and plane it, and high-tail it back to your shop?

—Lakey

-- "No Board Left Behind"

It sounds like the perfect excuse to purchase a planer!

-- NorthWoodsMan

Yes, a planer would be nice, but I share the shop with about 10 or 12 other old guys. and not all of them think we need a planer.

-- Ron in Osseo, Minnesota

Have you already jointed one face of the boards or are you planning on using a planer sled to accomplish that? Personally I would be relunctant to plane all of it to 3/4” unless I knew what I was going to make with it in advance.

-- Paul D, Atlanta GA

For now I plan to make a small cradle for my great grandchild, so I don’t need to plane all of it.

-- Ron in Osseo, Minnesota

Get what you need now planed and gripe and complain about all the inconvenience it is to get something planed, until your shop mates give in a agree on a planer.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

I would say plane what you need for now with some extra boards. Let the extra boards sit around for as long as you can to see what happens to them. If they stay flat get the rest planed.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Thanks for all the comments. I will just plane what I need for now.

-- Ron in Osseo, Minnesota