Tod's Top Tip!

It appears to me that this might eliminate a need for a jointer. What do you say to that Tod and Duncan?

I am not Tod or Duncan but for me it would not as I also use the jointer for face jointing. I guess that tod must have a commerical machine that takes care of that task but as a non professional I do not. I suppose that a guy could make a planer sled that would work but I find that a few passes over the jointer, flip it over and a quick run through the planer works plenty fast for me. I would not want to be without my jointer. I do wish that it was larger though as mine is only an eight inch model.
 
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I am not Tod or Duncan but for me it would not as I also use the jointer for face jointing. I guess that tod must have a commerical machine that takes care of that task but as a non professional I do not. ...

I'm not tod or Duncan either but I suspect that tod has the same attitude (roughly) to face jointing that I do (can't speak for Duncan). Basically if it isn't straight to start with, it won't get made straight (pemanently) on a jointer. Because the timber I work ends up in sold products delivered all over Europe I am willing to cull anything that is twisted, cupped or bowed. This material either gets cut short enough that the deformity doesn't matter and won't in the future or it ends up in the firewood pile. I work on the basis that no piece of wood will ever be flatter and truer than it is when it comes off the stack

And no - I don't own or use a jointer either.
 
I'm not tod or Duncan either but I suspect that tod has the same attitude (roughly) to face jointing that I do (can't speak for Duncan). Basically if it isn't straight to start with, it won't get made straight (pemanently) on a jointer. Because the timber I work ends up in sold products delivered all over Europe I am willing to cull anything that is twisted, cupped or bowed. This material either gets cut short enough that the deformity doesn't matter and won't in the future or it ends up in the firewood pile. I work on the basis that no piece of wood will ever be flatter and truer than it is when it comes off the stack

And no - I don't own or use a jointer either.

Ian,

You can pretty much speak for me too!

I dont face joint my timber.

One of the advantages of living in a small country is that all my timber suppliers are within an hours drive away, my main one only ten minutes. I go and select every board that I buy - if it is bowed, cupped, or twisted I don't buy it! The time taken is more than worthwhile.

Like Ian, if when the time comes for machining I detect any flaw I simply cut up that board for short componants.

I find that by judicious use of the thicknesser I can turn out flat, true boards every time. By this I mean flipping the board over and around lengthways after every pass. Then when I've got it flat I plane to the right thickness working with the grain for a good finish.

If after all this I've got a board with a slight bow on it I'll use it for a face frame or the hinged stile of a door - that way it is being held pemanantly true by it's ajoining componant.

I guess that if I was a hobby guy who'd bought just the right amount of wood for a particular job I would face joint in the text-book fashion, but in a professional shop with the right selection of timber in the first place I have always found it unnecessary.

There - I'm glad I've finally got that off my chest and I'm particularly pleased to discover that I'm not alone! :)
 
Hi, my name is Stu, and I've got a jointer............. :eek:

(rest of group, in unison....) "Hi Stu!"

I use mine for jointing straight a lot of the wood that I have harvested myself, this wood what crudely and quickly cut up into slabs from my homemade chainsaw mill, so the cuts are not as straight as I would like them to be :eek:

I do my best to follow what you pros advocate, I pick my lumber as well as I can, and discard any bowed, cupped or twisted stuff.

Cheers!:wave:
 
...I do my best to follow what you pros advocate, I pick my lumber as well as I can, and discard any bowed, cupped or twisted stuff...

I guess that this is an important point to make. There is no need for you to "do my best...." and nor is there for anybody else. My pressures as somebody who does this for a living are very different from those of somebody who does it for fun. If I ship a product that develops a fault because of timber movement, then replacing it and shipping the replacement will cost me $100-$150 depending. I am also risking annoying a customer. So for me , ditching a $10 piece of timber to eliminate the risk is value for money. The cost of materials is not cheap but the cost of time is even less cheap. I just don't have the time to coax quality out of sub-standard timber.

At the same time, the cost of the floorspace for a jointer wide enough to face joint the timbers I am using would be about $500 a year. A jointer wouldn't earn its keep on that basis because I can put a machine in that space that really earns its keep.

So the point I would make is that it is wrong for anybody to look at somebody elses working methods and say, "That's the way the pros do it so I should too". By all means consider how a method might work for you but don't get sucked into thinking that there is ever one right answer.
 
I guess that this is an important point to make. There is no need for you to "do my best...." and nor is there for anybody else. My pressures as somebody who does this for a living are very different from those of somebody who does it for fun. If I ship a product that develops a fault because of timber movement, then replacing it and shipping the replacement will cost me $100-$150 depending. I am also risking annoying a customer. So for me , ditching a $10 piece of timber to eliminate the risk is value for money. The cost of materials is not cheap but the cost of time is even less cheap. I just don't have the time to coax quality out of sub-standard timber.

At the same time, the cost of the floorspace for a jointer wide enough to face joint the timbers I am using would be about $500 a year. A jointer wouldn't earn its keep on that basis because I can put a machine in that space that really earns its keep.

So the point I would make is that it is wrong for anybody to look at somebody elses working methods and say, "That's the way the pros do it so I should too". By all means consider how a method might work for you but don't get sucked into thinking that there is ever one right answer.

Very well said Ian :clap:
 
my method of straightening or bending lumber is the same..i cut it apart and glue it back together. there`s nothing more stable than a properly constructed lamination....
once again ian says it correctly,"There is no need for you to "do my best...."
building stuff is what`s really important not how you get there....
 
Don't get sucked into thinking that there is ever one right answer.

Couldn't agree more, Ian.

I would extend that philosophy to a lot of the 'text-book' methods of woodworking which for years have been taught as being the only correct way of doing things.

There is more than one way of skinning a cat.

Safety should always be paramount in one's mind, however.
 
Wood did a similar jig, plan available here
The results might be similar, but the simplicity factor is no where the same. Tod's jig is simple and would be "FAST" the wood jig would take a lot longer and is not "Simple" :D

I like Simple, the "Keep It Simple Stupid" aka "KISS" way of doing things suits me fine! :wave:
 
Wood did a similar jig, plan available here

That's just the kind of sled I was planning on making Ned, until Tod came up with his twopennerth.

As Stu says, the beauty of the 'Evans Edger' is it's simplicity and ease of use. There is absolutely no need for clamps or the like.

And if it gets lost or damaged, you just make another in a couple of minutes!

Oh, and it's most definitely 'B' by the way!
 
Glenn

twopennerth = two pennys worth. At the current exchange rate it is approximately equivalent to saying "my 1.625 cents worth" but I'm sure that you will agree that this lacks the same rhythm and poetry:D.

(I have assumed that Duncan, like myself, is referring to a pre-decimalisation twopennorth which effectively represented 1/120th of a pound sterling)
 
Thank you Ian.

That one must have slipped out.

Out of politeness and a wish to be understood I have made a conscious effort since joining the forum to attempt to use American vernacular rather than English.

So I have said 'jointer' instead of 'planer'

'Planer' instead of 'thicknesser'

'Dado' instead of 'trench'

(God help me) 'Rabbet' instead of 'rebate'

However, please forgive the occassional lapse into the mother tongue! :):)


Missin' y'already!
 
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Just my two "yen's" worth, but I'd rather hear the various different "vernacular", as I think it broadens everyone's horizons. :thumb:

Just my opinion mind you..... :D
 
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