Old question: Milling 10"-12" wide cherry w/ 6" Jointer, 13" planer

[Jerry Olexa]

Yesterday, bought 50 bf of cherry for a small end table/cabinet project..It is rough cut , relatively flat and much of it is 10"-12" wide...(Need to mill the stock prior to starting glue-ups). I do not especially want to build a planer sled or remove the safety cover on the jointer (although that might be the easiest).. Also prefer to not hand plane as there is considerable stock to mill....Is there a simple, easier way to handle this without ripping the stock into 5" or 6" wide strips, milling them and then re-gluing? Another option would be to run it through the 13" planer although I know that will not address true flatness, square etc...I know this has been addressed here before but I'm hesitant to plunge into this decent cherry stock without some of your current guidance and counsel...LMK your ideas..Thanks in advance,

[Joe Hillmann]

When I am working with 1 inch stock I always just plane both sides and joint one edge. I know by planing both sides rather than jointing one side and planing the other none of the bow will be removed and only some of the cupping but so far it hasn't been a problem although with your cherry being a foot wide cupping MAY be more of an issue than the 6's and 8's I use. Although I wouldn't recommend doing this on thicker stock.

[David Nelson1]

Hey Jerry,

To me it depends on what you want to achieve. It sounds as if you want to use full board widths? If this is the case and of course your wood is relatively flat meaning it doesn't teeter from side to side or corner to corner, no bows, or concave/convex faces. I would be temped to cross cut to the an over sized length and recheck for flatness to see how it really is. If it needs an adjustment scub the high spots and let it set a few days. Then skip plane of few .001 from both sides and let it sit. Remember this only works if its already as you described "relatively flat". If not the planer will just copy the reference side. Come back a few days later and repeat the process.

The only other thing to do is rip it so it fits the jointer.

[Dan Barber1]

Jerry:

I know this may be heresy here but I am a hobbyist, albeit a fairly active one, and I have often been faced with your exact same problem. With no other easy alternatives I break the rules and simply run the board through the planner, alternating sides until I get it to the thickness I want. I have found very little variation in thickness in the boards so planed. Then I joint the edge and cut it to width on the table saw. I have made several tables, cabinets, etc. milled this way and never had a problem. I edge glue the boards for the top together, hand plan the surface flat and sand to finish. I am also aware of the correct procedure(joint one side flat, joint the edge and plane the other side parallel to the flat side) but for me it hasn't been a problem. I built a cherry counter top about 3 ft by 8 ft this way and installed it in the kitchen about six years ago and it still is flat as a pancake and just fine. My stuff has been all fairly small things so if you are doing a lot of big projects, maybe that would make a difference in the fact that you do have to hand plane (or sand) the glued up top flat, but for me that's no big deal.

Dan

[Sam Stephens]

Obviously you'll first rough cut to length so you're not planing/jointing stuff you're not going to use. Here's my method: If it's relatively flat on one side, i.e. no wobbles corner to corner and side to side and only slightly cupped, you can probably get by and using the planer to "joint" one face. Take very light passes. Once the outer edges 2-3" are planed the full length of the board, you can begin flipping the board on each pass if you want, and just take very light passes. However, if the board does have some wobble (which is normally the case) a planer sled is easy to make. For most things, I use a 4' piece of melamine (3/4") coated chip board, 12" wide. I screwed a cleat into one end (probably 1/2" thick, 2" wide). Load the board cupped face up (yes up, not down) against the cleat. then i use a hot melt glue gun to add enough glue to stop all the wobbles. wood wedges made from off-cuts attached w/ double sided tape also work. Plane one face fully (cleat side goes first), remove from the sled and proceed to thickness. Works quite well, well enough, that I question having a jointer. I also have a 7' sled I made for jointing longer boards for a bed (9" wide, 80" long, maple) but it's a bit cumbersome to handle.

Sam

[Brian Tymchak]

I did the same thing with mdf. I can buy 24x48x3/4 mdf panels from the local HD. I cut 1 of those down the middle into 2 pieces, glued/screwed them together on a flat surface, added the same cleat Sam mentioned. Took all of about 20 minutes with most of the work being countersinking for the screws. So it is a very small investment that has paid off for me many times since. At that thickness, I can't flex it by hand and I doubt the pinch rollers in the planer do either. I also use wood wedges to steady the board and take light passes. You can also double stick rails on the sides to absorb the snipe at either end to preserve your more valuable project boards.

[Matt Day]

A couple other options - hand tools of course, or a router sled (two parallel rails that the router runs on with the board in between).

[Mike Zilis]

Jerry,

just bring it by my place and run it over my 12" Jet Jointer/Planer Combo machine. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Mike

[Jerry Olexa]

Thanks guys. Many good suggestions..I played in shop this afternoon and tried couple different options..All yielded decent results but were slow and cumbersome.. Also not so safe with safety cover removed. Still have fair amount of cherry to mill and decided today I will probably need another 50 bf of cherry to complete the project..No easy solution and maybe my planer and jointer knives need sharpening...A 12" jointer sure would work!! Thanks again.

[Bruce Wrenn]

FWW and Wood published how to joint boards wider than your jointer. Basically, you remove pork chop guard and replace with a Euro style made from plywood and clamped to fence. Then add a shim to the in feed table (double stick tape) that has edge lined up with rabbetting ledge on out feed table. Joint until you produce a flat the entire length of the board ( Think 6" wide rabbet.) Using double stick tape, add a shim under rabbeted area, then run through planner till second side is flat. Turn board over, remove shim and plane until width of board is flat.

[Michael W. Clark]

I've used the planer to flatten both sides instead of jointing on accasion. For a short, wide board, you may want to do a little hand tool work to get any wobble out. I usually put the board through the planer cup down and plane the top flat, then turn it over and plane the other side.

[Jerry Olexa]

Thanks to all...It's 12 degrees today in my garage shop so a temporary delay...I will try your various options...Think I now know the limitations, etc..Thanks to all...

[Rob Ring]

I think Mike Z has the best answer! Plus a chance to spend time with a fellow woodworker. The next best thing to having cool tools is having a friend with cool tools!