STOCK PREPARATION

WHAT DOES WHAT

The JOINER (aka JOINTER) does two things
It creates a flat surface on the face of the board
It creates a flat surface on the edge of the board which is 90 degrees or square to
the face of the board - assuming that the joiner fence is set 90s to the table.

IT WILL NOT MAKE PARALLEL SIDES OR PARALLEL FACES.

The PLANER (aka THICKNESSER) also does two things
It creates a flat surface PARALLEL to the opposite face of the board. Unless the
opposite face is FLAT, planing will not make a curved or cupped or twiste board
flat. Opposing faces will be parallel in these cases but the board will not be flat
It removes wood down to the desired thickess of the board (hence the alternate name
THICKNESSER)

IT WILL NOT MAKE ADJACENT FACES SQUARE TO EACH OTHER

The TABLE SAW can do four things
It cross cuts the ends of the board to the desired length
It rips the side(s) of the board to the desired width
When the blade is set 90 degrees to the table it makes the ripped and/or cross
cut sides of the board square to the face of the board
When the fence is set parallel to the saw blade and the straight edge of a board is
kept against the fence while ripping, the resulting ripped face will be parallel
to the side against the fence

WHAT ORDER?

The sequence to make a flat squared edged straight board is:

1. Join one face flat. Pay attention to the grain direction to minimize tear out
On the face to be flattened scribble pencil lines so you'll see when the board
is flat (lines gone - board flat).
Mark the flattened face so you know which face is The Reference Face

2. With the flat face against the joiner fence (which is set square to the joiner
table), flatten the edge and make it square to the flat face of the board (The
Reference Face). Pay attention to the grain direction to minimize tear out.
Do the pencil scribbles on the edge to know when you're done.
Mark the flattened. straight edge so you know which edge is The Refence Edge.

3. With the flat face down on the planer table, plane the top surface parallel to
the Reference Face. Pay attention to the grain direction to minimize tear out.
If you haven't used your planer lately it would be wise to clean the table
before planing your stock. Getting rust/grunge etc. on The Reference Face of
your stock is hard to remove.

4. Continue planing to the desired thickness plus a sixteenth of an inch to
allow for finer surface finishing later. Do the pencil scribbles on face to be
planed so you'll know when you're done.

5. With the flat edge against the table saw's rip fence, rip the opposite edge
straight to the desired final width plus a sixteenth of an inch for fine finishing
later.

Onto RIPPING, with a discussion about kick back - what can cause kick back and what
you can do to minimize the likelyhood of kick back --->>

<-------- back to the previous page

Back to the Index