Milling wide boards

[adamcherubini]

What about edge jointing the 12/4 and then edge gluing instead of face gluing? If you don’t have enough 12/4 for the whole top, put the 12/4 in the front of the bench then switch to 8/4 for the back? Even a couple 6” 12/4 board would make a nice bench top. Glue edge to edge, then face plane with a long hand plane S#7 or 8.

If you don’t want to go the hand plane route, edge glue, then find someone with a thickness sander.

Bench top stiffness is not the only attribute of a good bench. If you feel you need more stiffness screw another piece to the underside of the top between the legs.

[photobug]

What about edge jointing the 12/4 and then edge gluing instead of face gluing? If you don’t have enough 12/4 for the whole top, put the 12/4 in the front of the bench then switch to 8/4 for the back? Even a couple 6” 12/4 board would make a nice bench top. Glue edge to edge, then face plane with a long hand plane S#7 or 8.

If you don’t want to go the hand plane route, edge glue, then find someone with a thickness sander.

Bench top stiffness is not the only attribute of a good bench. If you feel you need more stiffness screw another piece to the underside of the top between the legs.

I had no idea about the sizes of the boards.  They had been on hand waiting for this project for a couple of decades.  I finally put a tape measure on them to take an inventory.  Turns out they are only 6/4.  I do have what I will have to check are two more boards one is at least 8/4.

I had a guy in town before the longest running cabinet shop.  I emailed him and one other about a year ago to see if I could get them to thickness sand a cutting board I made.  It took me a while to get to the guy but the owner was shutting down his business after 39 years.  It is just too hard to get employees in my town. He fired up his huge shop and thicknesses it on down and used his huge horizontal belt to shape it for me.  For free.

He is no longer in his shop and I reached out to two other shops but did not hear back until over a week later.  By that time I had chosen to build a sled. One in 8 feet an one in a 48" size.  The 8 footer is done and when it warms up today I will wheel out the planer and see how it goes.

I build my planer sled out of Hardboard with 1x6 in the center to form a stiff/flat board.  The plans for the planer sled has a complex set of shims but instead of building the other components.  The question is do I need to glue or use double tape to hold the shims in place?  I figure with 8 foot boards weighing 30 lbs each the shims probably don't need securing.

[Derek Cohen]

What about edge jointing the 12/4 and then edge gluing instead of face gluing? If you don’t have enough 12/4 for the whole top, put the 12/4 in the front of the bench then switch to 8/4 for the back? Even a couple 6” 12/4 board would make a nice bench top. Glue edge to edge, then face plane with a long hand plane S#7 or 8.

If you don’t want to go the hand plane route, edge glue, then find someone with a thickness sander.

Bench top stiffness is not the only attribute of a good bench. If you feel you need more stiffness screw another piece to the underside of the top between the legs.

This would have been my response as well. Well described, Adam.

Photobug, the situation you are experiencing is the perennial problem for all woodworkers - there will always be wider boards than machines! Consequently, you need to develop a method to deal with this, and handplanes are inevitably part of the solution. Now is a good time to practice.


Regards from Perth

Derek

[photobug]

What about edge jointing the 12/4 and then edge gluing instead of face gluing? If you don’t have enough 12/4 for the whole top, put the 12/4 in the front of the bench then switch to 8/4 for the back? Even a couple 6” 12/4 board would make a nice bench top. Glue edge to edge, then face plane with a long hand plane S#7 or 8.

If you don’t want to go the hand plane route, edge glue, then find someone with a thickness sander.

Bench top stiffness is not the only attribute of a good bench. If you feel you need more stiffness screw another piece to the underside of the top between the legs.

I called my wood supplier, it is a 2 hour drive.  They do not carry anything bigger than 8/4.   I also found out the most exotic wood they carry is Mahogany.  I am just glad I do not have to travel 5 hours to the other big city to    

If I was able to make a full sized benchtop I would not have a problem hand planing it.  It seems like a right of passage, hand planning a benchtop.  I may be wrong but getting a big benchtop flat seems easier than trying to flatten smaller boards good enough for joining.

[photobug]

Photobug, the situation you are experiencing is the perennial problem for all woodworkers - there will always be wider boards than machines! Consequently, you need to develop a method to deal with this, and handplanes are inevitably part of the solution. Now is a good time to practice.


Regards from Perth

Derek

I am heading that way, trying to develop hand took skills.  That is why I am building this benchtop.  I foresee the near future being a hybrid woodworker, machining a board to flatness before trying my hand at hand joinery.