Today, I made my first visit in. I brought some lumber to square up. The first boards squared up nicely. The second set of boards were wider- almost 8” wide. I couldn’t use the jointer. Anyone have any suggestions as to how I could square up these boards? I considered running them through the planer but I’d be chasing my tail, right? They are 3/4” thick.
It depends what axis they need correcting on. If they’re cupped across the grain they’ll usually clean up fine in the planer. If they’re twisted or otherwise wonky lengthwise, you need a little help.
There are some planer sleds floating around the shop that are great for medium-sized boards How to make a planer sled | Flatten Large Boards - YouTube
If they’re big enough that it’d be hard to run them through the planer, they could be flattened with a flycutter on the CNC. Lots of our table builders use that method.
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I will see if I could locate the sleds. I’ll need to re-inspect the problems on the boards. They aren’t too large for the sled solution.
I read in WOOD Magazine of someone using an aluminum J Channel for jointing boards. It looks like this and comes in many different lengths.
The way it works is you place that J part between your wood and the fence with the wider area of the aluminum laying on the top of your wood. That way it makes a completely straight line. Once you’ve made the first pass, simply flip it over and move the fence a bit closer and you run your newly straight edge you just made against the fence. Then magic you have 2 squared edges.
I have actually done this when I was making the 3D printer case and it was a godsend and so much faster.
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@dash3811 Do you mean the fence on the table saw?
The sleds work perfectly well. I have jointed a lot of raw lumber on the sleds. You’ll want to cut your wood closer to the finish length, a few inches longer maybe, so you don’t lose as much material to flattening. Lots of videos on planing sleds. Hot glue and shims. The thinner the board, the closer the shims.
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Yes on the table saw. Sorry i didn’t specify.
Yes if you are trying to square up the faces. Using the planer sled with shims cut from the scrap cart would be better suited.
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