Planing and thicknessing tips

[RogerS]

1) Sometimes the timber can be a bit twisted.

In these circumstances I never bother to plane one side totally smooth because if you do then you might find yourself running out of 'thickness'. Quite often I will leave some areas for later but will mark them up with a bit of chalk. Note to self..restock your coloured chalk.



If there is an area that still needs planing and you're running out of 'thickness' as it were, marking the areas that are still rough often highlights the fact that you don't necessarily have to worry about that area since it is going to be removed for a tenon. That might jut save you havng to go and get some ore timber.

2) If the available timber thickness is marginal then again I won't bother to finish planing one side but just enough that it will support the thicknessing of the other side. Once that side has been thicknessed then I will return to the initial side and finish it off. Sometimes again using the chalk trick you realise that you can get in just under the wire.

 

[will1983]

Good tip roger.

To expand on it a little it is sometimes worth deciding on what is going to be your "show" side, you can then make sure that side is perfect and the other is "good enough".

My next project is a 7' sideboard, painted MDF carcassing with a solid ash top. I have made the top already, the top of the top is flat//level/smooth but the underside is just thicknessed enough to make fitting it to the carcassing straight forward. Some of the saw mill marks are still present but as they will be hidden there's no point making it perfect and I'd lose more thickness from the top as a whole.