Trying CS method on my table top

[steven c newman]

Have you got a couple 4' levels in the shop? maybe in different colours?

All winding sticks will tell you is...that there is a twist going on down the length of the panel...

Place a 4' level on it's edge with a bright light behind it....look between the surface and the bottom edge of the level...where the light shines through, THAT is the LOW spots...work your way from one end to the other end..and however you wish to mark any high spots, do so....wherever the level touches is the high spots...go until the bright light ( at the end of the tunnel) no longer shows through...

[mike stenson]

Twist is the one thing a level or a string won't tell you.

My winding sticks are about 60mm/24"

[steven c newman]

Didn't READ that comment fully enough to understand it, did you?

Told the OP to use a PAIR OF 4' LEVELS , one on each end, with a bright light behind the one on the far end of the panel...

As the OP stated he did not HAVE long enough winding sticks.....

24" winding sticks would be about 12" too short, and ....useless for the OP.....


Twist is the ONE thing a pair of winding sticks are good at.....and who said a bloody thing about a string?

[Tony Wilkins]

Didn't READ that comment fully enough to understand it, did you?

Told the OP to use a PAIR OF 4' LEVELS , one on each end, with a bright light behind the one on the far end of the panel...

As the OP stated he did not HAVE long enough winding sticks.....

24" winding sticks would be about 12" too short, and ....useless for the OP.....


Twist is the ONE thing a pair of winding sticks are good at.....and who said a bloody thing about a string?

‘I only have one longer level and I’m not sure if it’s 4’ (and it’s been through 5 army moves so Lord knows if it’s accurate as a level any more).

[steven c newman]

Maybe get a second one, in a contrasting colour?

[Tony Wilkins]

Maybe get a second one, in a contrasting colour?

I could do that. Would that be better than riving out some straight gain stock and making a pair?

[Rafael Herrera]

Steven is recommending using two 4' levels as winding sticks. They are of uniform width so they'll work fine as winding sticks, even as straight edges, not as levels per se.

[Tony Wilkins]

Steven is recommending using two 4' levels as winding sticks. They are of uniform width so they'll work fine as winding sticks, even as straight edges, not as levels per se.

I understand. It is an easy solution for longer straight edges. If I need two, looks like it would be about $50 on Amazon.

[Derek Cohen]

So, winding sticks. Mine are about 18” if I recall. Whatever they are, well short of 37” wide. Should I put together a longer set? How long do they need to be to reliably show twist?

Plan b would be to use my two LV aluminum straight edges (50” & 38”?) and put blue tape on the top corners of the longer to use. Would that work?

Tony, that should work well.

Remember that you also site for twist progressively down (or up) the panel, taking readings along the way.

Mark and remove the high spots.

Drink plenty of eggnog

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mark Rainey]

end grain.jpgThanks for posting this big table flattening by hand Tony. It is fun to follow. When is Warren going to schedule a day to demonstrate his techniques? - nothing like an in person demonstration. Many of us are not far away - I will barter a nice all heartwood cherry board. Tony, I am working on the end grain of my board and find standing on a platform gives me the best position, allowing me to use the weight of the plane. You may consider doing the same.

[steven c newman]

Simple..walk into Lowes or Home Depot tomorrow...buy a colourful 4' level that contrasts to the one you have. Easy as can be.

[Tony Wilkins]

end grain.jpgThanks for posting this big table flattening by hand Tony. It is fun to follow. When is Warren going to schedule a day to demonstrate his techniques? - nothing like an in person demonstration. Many of us are not far away - I will barter a nice all heartwood cherry board. Tony, I am working on the end grain of my board and find standing on a platform gives me the best position, allowing me to use the weight of the plane. You may consider doing the same.

One good thing about breadboards, I don’t have to smooth/overly flatten the ends.

[mike stenson]

I've, literally, used two pieces of MDF cut on a tablesaw.


A hell of a lot cheaper than buying levels you don't need. This forum makes all of this so much harder than it needs to be.

[Tom M King]

I've never bought anything to use for them, and don't even bother to keep any. If I don't have something laying around that will work, I just make some out of scrap. These in the video were just leftover scraps of roof purlins for Cypress shingles on that job. They were already straight, but if they weren't there is a jointer and tablesaw right there. I was working in the temporary shop setup in the daylight basement of that museum house. My little bench was clamped to the tablesaw for mass.

[Brian Hale]

Hey Toni. The walnut top I'm working on is smaller than yours but doing basically the same process. Not sure if it was mentioned before but I never leave something this size laying flat on the bench overnight as I've had a couple twist, particularly as I get closer to both sides being flat. This batch of wood is what I call Urban Lumber since it came from my neighbors front yard next to the street and even after slow drying for ~2 years it would move after initial machining.

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