How do YOU face joint thin material?

[Bill Space]

I need some oak 1/4 inch final thickness.

I re-sawed some stock to about 3/8 or a bit thicker and used my jointer with a spiral cutter head to flatten the re-sawed side.

The next step is to run it through my thickness planer.

But I was wondering the right technique to use when running it across the jointer. What I did was to start it with my push blocks on the in feed table, then shift the push blocks to the out feed table after enough material was there to support the push blocks.

Then I kept the push blocks on the out feed table side and sort of dragged the material through the cutter.

Seems to have worked OK...but just wondering if there is a different method.

Seems to me if I had pushed down on the material on the in feed table, material which had a slight bow to it after re sawing, that I would not have ended up with a flat surface.

Am I missing anything?

This stuff will be cut into short pieces anyway, so it does not really matter, but I am wondering in the event I need to make some longer thin pieces.

Appreciate any advice on methods/techniques.

Bill

[john bateman]

Joint one face of the stock FIRST before resawing it. After sawing off your 3/8" slice, put it through the planer with the jointed side down.
Keep repeating that until you feel the remainder of the original stock is too thin to safely joint.

[Peter Quinn]

Joint one face of the stock FIRST before resawing it. After sawing off your 3/8" slice, put it through the planer with the jointed side down.
Keep repeating that until you feel the remainder of the original stock is too thin to safely joint.

I usually joint one face before resaw, but resaw almost always releases tension and gives the off cut a pronounced bow, particularly if splitting 4/4 stock. Most times he is still going to have to rejoin if pieces must be flat. And its dicey pushing stock that thing over the jointer. I do the push block dance, you have to be careful not to put too much pressure down. It can help to have a pusher block with a shoe at the rear of the stock so you can push forward without pushing down like with the form push blocks.

[Bill Huber]

When I am wanting a 3/8" board I check it for flatness and then resaw it just a bit thicker and then run it though the drum sander.

As John said, once you have a flat surface then becomes the reference surface for the rest of the job. Cut the slice off and run it though the planer reference face down.

[Mark Andrew]

+1 on the drum sander for thin stock. I'm just doing some of that right now. It's about 1/8th thick.

[johnny means]

You don't.

[Harlan Barnhart]

By hand. As long as its just a board or two.

[Bill Space]

OK... Trying again,

Resawing 4/4 stock causes some release of tension in the resulting two halves. The two pieces have a bow to them.

How do you make them flat?

The planer and drum sander will make the thickness even, but will not remove the bow. That is what the jointer is supposed to do.

If you do not use the jointer how do you make them flat?

IF you do use the jointer, what is your technique?

Greatly appreciate all advice,

edit: Stock jointed flat on one side and thickness plainer to even thickness before resawing. Existing left over piece, actually 3/4" thick.

[Bill Huber]

OK... Trying again,

Resawing 4/4 stock causes some release of tension in the resulting two halves. The two pieces have a bow to them.

How do you make them flat?

The planer and drum sander will make the thickness even, but will not remove the bow. That is what the jointer is supposed to do.

If you do not use the jointer how do you make them flat?

IF you do use the jointer, what is your technique?

Greatly appreciate all advice,

I have taken 3/4" stock resawed it to just a little over 3/8", then taken the off cut and sanded it down to 1/4" all on the drum sander. The drum sander does not push down on the wood like a planer does and you just take light passes with the drum sander and you can get a flat board, done it many times.

Again, you make light passes with the drum sander and flip the board over after each pass, this will make the board thinner but you have to have enough board to start with. I can get a nice flat 1/4" and a 3/8" board out of 4/4 or even 3/4" stock.

[Bill Space]

Peter,

Your reply addresses my question pretty directly. I look forward to hearing how others address the specific question.

Thanks for for your input along with all the others.

Bill

[Bill Space]

Thanks Bill,

i have a 12" dual drum sander that I bought used not too long ago but have not used it much yet. It has three hold down rollers that seem to push down pretty hard, but I am not sure how hard. I will have check it out further. On thin stock it does not take much force to push it flat against a flat surface. The final answer may be that thin stock does not have to be flat in most cases...

So perhaps my question relates to the rare time when a thin flat stand alone piece is needed.

[Mel Fulks]

It would help to know how it's going to be used. It many cases something like that would be used in short pieces and
shorter pieces. Display trays and such,so you make more than you must net and just use the material appropriatly. I agree with others that little precise straightening is usually done on real thin material. After resawing I would sand both sides clean ,then look at them and remove the rest of the wood from the CONVEX side ,which will make most of them straighter
and none more bowed.

[Myk Rian]

Joint one face of the stock FIRST before resawing it. After sawing off your 3/8" slice, put it through the planer with the jointed side down.
Keep repeating that until you feel the remainder of the original stock is too thin to safely joint.

^^^^This^^^^ You were doing it backwards.

[Andrew Hughes]

Hi Bill I have faced very thin stock with a jointer that had a bryd head.I used a block to fully capture the piece.And a stop to keep it from sliding out the back.
i used the technique for curved laminations drum sander would of taken too long.
It can be done.

[Jim A Walters]

Hi Bill I have faced very thin stock with a jointer that had a bryd head.I used a block to fully capture the piece.And a stop to keep it from sliding out the back.
i used the technique for curved laminations drum sander would of taken too long.
It can be done.

I picture this "block" as being like an upside down sled that holds the piece and allows you to apply some downward pressure evenly on the thin stock as you slide it through the jointer, correct?