# Ripping Crib Slats



## Firefighter (Oct 21, 2010)

I am in the design phase of crib #2 for our babies. For the first one I resawed and planed 4/4 maple to get the 1/2" thick crib slats. That was slow and it left me with a lot of ~1/4"x3" pieces. I was wondering if I could take 8/4 stock and plane it flat and then rip 1/2" thick pieces. Then rip the pieces to get the width I want (1 1/2"). I believe this would leave me with a lot less scrap and be a much easier process, but I was not sure if there was a grain issue with doing this. Thanks for any advice!


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## crank49 (Apr 7, 2010)

I didn't do it, but that's exactly how I planned to make the slats for a bed I was going to build for my grandaughter. She just decided on a different style, so I didn't go forward with the original plans. I can think of no good reason this wouldn't work as long as you are using well dried wood.


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## therookie (Aug 29, 2010)

I think that it would leave you with substantially less scrap, and be much more time efficiant for your process.


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## Steve2 (Aug 16, 2008)

That would be fine except I don't quite know why you would buy 8/4 in the first place - what you described is a LOT of work and premium material price.

But, maybe you happened to have it on hand or something…


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## Firefighter (Oct 21, 2010)

Steve- I am looking at $2.72 bf for 8/4 vs $2.53 for 4/4 so the price is not that different. I am not sure why you say it is a lot of work. Seems to me it would be a lot less work than how I did the last set. Not trying to argue, just hoping to see your point because chances are you know more about this than I do.

Thanks


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## crank49 (Apr 7, 2010)

As I understand it, you are planning to take 8/4 stock and joint and plane it to near 1 1/2" thick. Then rip 1/2" wide strips to yield a bunch of slats that are 1/2" thick X 1 1/2" wide. That makes perfect sense to me, and it's how I was going to do a similar project, like I said before.

Steve2, how could you do this if you didn't start with 8/4 stock? Well, unless you could get lumber already milled to 1 1/2" thickness, then you would save the initial jointing and planing steps.

I thought Firefighter's original question was prompted by doubt about the effect of ripping the strips from a thick board and thus causing the grain (growth rings) to be oriented in a 90 degree different direction and whether that would cause any problems with bowing, warping, etc. Like I said originally, I don't see a problem as long as you are working with well dried wood.


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