Strategy for preping wide boards for tabletop

[Woodchukker]

I've picked up some wide premium cherry boards at my local hardwood dealer.  When I got them home I saw that one of the boards was 14" wide and was beautiful across the entire surface with no significant defects and since it is plane sawn it has nice straight grain patterns running down the length of the board at the sides.  So, I would like to use this board to make the top for a 26" wide coffee table.  Since my jointer is 8" and my planer 13" I will take this board back to the lumberyard to have them mill it.  Here's my dilemma.  I know the wood will move (twist, curl, whatever) with planing and cutting.  Usually I rough cut my lumber to pretty close to the final size and plane it partially and then let it sit for a few days before final planing.  If I do this I have very flat boards that are usually stable from then on.  But with taking the board to a mill this would mean asking them to plane it part way and the waiting to plane it the rest of the way a few days later.  I asked them about this and they claim there is no problem with just cutting and planing to the final dimensions in one step.  I disagree based on my experience. And this is for a table top where I will glue up two boards and need them to be as flat as possible.

So, do I have them mill it partially, pick up the board and take it home for a few days before taking it back?  Or, do you think cutting up the board into the approximate lengths (without planing) a few days before taking it to the mill is enough to minimize the risk of movement after they mill it to final dimensions?  I guess it really comes down to how much tension is released in the wood when it is planned (from 5/4 down to 7/8").  I know for sure that cutting releases tension and causes movement but what about planing alone?

Thanks

[JGrout]

If the stock is between 6-8% moisture content and kiln dried I would not worry about it 

What I would do  is take it to the mill, have them remove the minimum amount of stock it takes to clean it up and bring it home. 

If it moves you have the ability to remove more to make it right; if not you get a  thicker top and that will not hurt anything but a few minor corrections to the base.

JME

Joe

[Dave Diaman]

Joe hit the nail on the head. Have them mill it and keep it as thick as possible. As Joe said if the wood is kiln dried and was dried properly you shouldn’t have any issues. The only time I have had problems with kiln dried wood is in cases where it was not dried correctly. In this case as soon as you cut the wood you will usually know. I'm sure you have ripped a seemly straight board and ended up with two pieces resembling a bow before. At any rate this will give you more wood to work with after you glue up your top and if there are any problems you will have room to fix it. Just be conscious of how you handle the wood after milling though and you should be fine. Now if you bring it home and lay the boards down on a cold concrete floor all bets are off.

[RPE1]

I made a 53" x 53" solid walnut dining table a few years ago.  I made the top in three, ~18" sections.  I screwed it to a carrier board (melamine) from the underside and took it to a custom door manufacturer.  He ran it through his triple 24" or 30" belt sander.  Three different grits at the same time.  It came out perfect.  He didn't charge me a nickle.
I took it home, unscrewed it from the carrier board and put it together.   I only had two joints to worry about.
RP

[gamma]

Or, see if someone local has a bigger planer & jointer that you could use.  One of the best things about getting to know the locals is knowing who has which unusual tool.

Good luck!  Sounds like a nice project!

[Woodchukker]

Thanks for all the ideas.  So I will go ahead and cut the boards in length (about 7" longer than final length) before taking it to the mill.  I'll have them plane it leaving as much thickness as possible and then take it home.  I'll see if it warps.  If not I'll then I'll glue it up and see if a thicker top (than what I originally intended) on the base looks good.  If it warps or if I think it just needs to be thinner I'll take it back for more planing (they have a 37" planer).    I really like the idea of making all the tops on the coffee table and end tables out of just two glued up boards and it will be worth the effort to me to have this look.  Besides, I just couldn't bring myself to rip such a beautiful board just so it would fit on my 8" jointer.  

I'll have to start complaining about this problem loud and long at home to set the stage for justifying wider equipment in my shop down the road.

[ez-duzit]

Build your table top and then take the whole glue-up to someone with a wide belt sander. If you really must plane it, rip the 14" right down the center and re-join it; you'll never notice the join.

[gamma]

Thanks for all the ideas.  So I will go ahead and cut the boards in length (about 7" longer than final length) before taking it to the mill.  I'll have them plane it leaving as much thickness as possible and then take it home. 

You might check with them where their snipe is on the machine they'll be using.  Many bigger machines snipe farther out than you might expect.  Just due to how big the rollers are, and how much space needs to be there for the gearing.  I've seen 7" on one end before. 

Granted, they should have it dialed in, but... it'd be a shame to cut it down, and get sniped!

[rwe2156]

I would be a little concerned taking it somewhere that they will remove too much material.  Once its in that planer there's no going back.

My suggestion is to cut the board down into 2-7" wide boards you can joint and plane on your own machines.  You will never know the difference if the joint line is perfect.

On wide tops like this I usually take it down to about 1/8" over and do the final flattening with handplanes, a straight edge and winding sticks.  If you want an absolutely perfect top finish up with sanding.

[ianab]

Time to build a router sled maybe?

I can joint and plane a complete table top if I need to, at least to a finish where you can start with a hand held sander to get your final finish.

For a one off, I can see the point of getting someone with a jumbo planer / wide sander etc to do the job. But I do a bit of work with wide live edge boards, so rigging up a router to flatten them made sense. Your mileage may differ