# Need help with surfacing rough cut lumber



## BlackNoir (Dec 29, 2007)

I'm 99% sure I saw a post or blog on this somewhere but I can't for the life of me find it now. So, I thought I'd just ask. I just bought my first small load of rough cut red oak boards running 6"-9" wide. I'm looking for the best way to surface these up with the surfacing tools I have.

6" Jointer
13" Planer
Table saw

Any links or just a breakdown of steps would be great.

Thanks,
Shay


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

The jointer will work fine for surfacing wood 6" in width but for larger boards you will either have to rip them or make a sled to surface them on your planer such as GaryK's planar sled. You must have a flat surface before passing the board through the planer. Using the jig will let you establish a flat surface on one side of lumber that is up to 13" in width.

Once you have one flat surface then use the planer to make the other side parallel. Joint one edge and run the other through the table saw and you have all 4 sides at 90 degrees to one another.

Hope this helps.


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## MikeLingenfelter (Feb 19, 2007)

For the stuff that can't run over your 6" jointer, you can use a planer sled with your 13" Planner. It has worked well for me. If you have never used a Jointer or Planner, there is a great DVD that shows you everything you need to know.


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## benihun (May 31, 2008)

Here is a link which was very useful for me: Getting started in woodworking
Check out video #9 - "How to mill rough lumber" for this topic.

Steps:
1. Get one of the wider sides (faces) planed on the jointer.
2. With the flat side (made in the first step) against the fence on the jointer, get one of the narrow sides (edges) planed.
3. Rip the stock with the flat edge against the fence on the tablesaw.
4. Make the crosscut on the tablesaw.

I hope I wrote it as it was shown in the video.


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## BlackNoir (Dec 29, 2007)

Cool, I think I'll just rip the pieces down to 6" or smaller since I don't need anything larger anyways and was going to rip them eventually. Thanks for the advice everyone.

-Shay


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## dalec (Oct 3, 2007)

Garyk has an article on the LJ forum or blog on using a sled and bench planer. Also FWW has an article about using sled to get flatten a board.

Dalec


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## freedhardwoods (May 11, 2008)

I will agree that a jointer has its place in woodworking, but I think it gets overused. Boards that are cupped will plane flat for me. Twisted boards won't, but I rarely run into that. I have planed and sold at least 50,000 bf of lumber, and have never used a jointer. Most of the lumber I sold was to repeat customers, and they liked what they were buying.


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## Catspaw (Dec 15, 2007)

Well, it would appear most people around here get 8/4 or better wood. Because we've never gotten thick enough boards to joint and plane them out dead flat from rough. Most of what we get is 4/4. There is simply not enought material to joint out bows in the wood.

We skip plane, then, do the rest as needed. When we need something really flat AND it's short, then we flat joint and plane. Face frames will suck up flat when you apply them to a cabinet. No sense in wasting wood. Of course, if you're trying to do an 8' tall pantry door or something that's only 3/4" thick then you want flat wood. But, then you have to account for special needs.

Personally, I think the only reason anyone needs a planer sled is if you have a special short peice of figured wood that's all gnarly and such. We work with alot of stuff over 8' and never flat joint.

Bottom line, consider what you want to accomplish. Then do as necessary without wasting a bunch of wood.


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## douglas2cats (Mar 31, 2008)

If you can rough cut pieces to length ahead of time, you may be able to reduce the amount of face/edge jointing you have to do and it may increase the final thickness a bit. Go a bit longer to account for any potental planer snipe later and do your best to plan pieces out for color/figure matching. But the sooner you can break things down smaller, the better for flattening and squaring them up. Also if sapwood edges exist and you're trying to avoid those, it may mean you have to switch back and forth between ripping & crosscuting in non-convenient steps. I usually just keep the rip blade on during all this and do a quick rough cut overlong with a Shark saw for the length.


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## gizmodyne (Mar 15, 2007)

Hi,

I have a blog entry with a video that might interest you.


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## ww_kayak (Mar 15, 2008)

Better late than never… There's a good video of the sled type Mike mentioned over at Fine Woodworking too:

A Planer Sled for Milling Lumber


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## edp (Jul 23, 2007)

I have always been a bit shy on the issue of planer sleds. One method I turn to frequently is my version of router rails. I first rough cut my components to length (plus a bit) and then make a "U" channel from plywood that is long enough and wide enough to contain the widest/longest component. It is important that the side legs are exactly the same height. I normally screw through the sides into the base and then rip them to size. I then grab a router mounted on a 2' square piece of 1/2" thick lexan with a large diameter end cutter. Fasten the lumber to the "U" channel with a screw up through the bottom on each end. Not too tight, just snug, adjust the tool length and cut the face dead flat.

Ed


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