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I've set a lot of special boards aside during the time I was doing kitchens and staircases.
I have a lot of 2 board tables in my lumber rack....
Steve
Mo.
I miss the days of using my dinghy with a girlfriend too. Zack Butler-4/18/24
The Revos apparently are designed to clamp railroad ties and pull together horrifically prepared joints
WaterlooMark 02/9/2020
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"There is a special place in hell for a woodworker that rips a wide board."
A famous woodworker, that would probably prefer I didn't name him, but I was there when he said it.
...Naval Aviators, that had balz made of brass and the size of bowling balls, getting shot off the deck at night, in heavy seas, hoping that when they leave the deck that the ship is pointed towards the sky and not the water.
AD1 T. O. Cronkhite
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(01-15-2021, 02:12 PM)petertay15 Wrote: A professional cabinet maker I know buys oak by the truckload. He tells me that every wide board gets cut lengthwise, one side flipped end for end, then glued back together. He says using wide boards leads to cupping problems. Myself, I love to use wide boards for bragging rights; “Look this table is made of only two boards.” What is your experience with wide boards? By wide I mean 10 to 18 inches.
To this day, I only have a 6” jointer in my shop.
I buy virtually all my lumber rough, and can only plane 6” wide. With modern wood, this is a requirement.
Old growth wood grew slower, and hence had much tighter grain. Look at any antique oak piece and you will see that you really cannot buy new oak with the same tight grain.
The faster grown, open grain Woods we buy now just cannot stay as flat. And remember too that very few antique pieces with wide boards survive to this day mostly because they did not stay flat, or even together.
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They should have warned these guys about the dangers of wide boards.before they build this table.
That single board tapers from 4'6" wide at one end to 5'6" at the other. Doesn't seen to have warped....
My dining table is a single plank as well, but not of that magnitude. But in the 5 years since I made the table, it also hasn't warped to any noticeable amount.
Now wood WILL move if it's moisture content changes, and depending on the grain orientation that can sure make it cup. I've got boards that cupped to the extend they won't joint flat, then the only option is to rip them, and work with the 4" boards. But once you get a board acclimated and flat, it should stay that way, unless it gets a serious change in climate.
(and yes factory production is different where they are going to a consistent glued up panel that they KNOW will behave as expected.)
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(01-23-2021, 12:38 AM)ianab Wrote: They should have warned these guys about the dangers of wide boards.before they build this table.
That single board tapers from 4'6" wide at one end to 5'6" at the other. Doesn't seen to have warped....
My dining table is a single plank as well, but not of that magnitude. But in the 5 years since I made the table, it also hasn't warped to any noticeable amount.
Now wood WILL move if it's moisture content changes, and depending on the grain orientation that can sure make it cup. I've got boards that cupped to the extend they won't joint flat, then the only option is to rip them, and work with the 4" boards. But once you get a board acclimated and flat, it should stay that way, unless it gets a serious change in climate.
(and yes factory production is different where they are going to a consistent glued up panel that they KNOW will behave as expected.)
Dollars to donuts that table shown is old growth.
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(01-23-2021, 07:10 PM)handi Wrote: Dollars to donuts that table shown is old growth.
I will give you that
The tree was ~1500 years old when it got blown over, and Kauri pine is a pretty stable wood.
But I counted the rings on the log my table is cut from, 70 years.
I'm not saying that wide boards NEVER cup, obviously some do. But it's not a blanket statement.
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(01-15-2021, 02:12 PM)petertay15 Wrote: A professional cabinet maker I know buys oak by the truckload. He tells me that every wide board gets cut lengthwise, one side flipped end for end, then glued back together. He says using wide boards leads to cupping problems. Myself, I love to use wide boards for bragging rights; “Look this table is made of only two boards.” What is your experience with wide boards? By wide I mean 10 to 18 inches.
I’ve heard this a lot. When I first started woodworking I bought into it. After a while I realized that if the piece is built properly that board width isn’t a concern. I rarely ever use a board narrower than 10-12” for a panel and have routinely used board 16”-24” wide. I have plenty of one and two board table tops out there as well. I make sure everything is dried properly and the piece of furniture is designed to allow for wood movement. After 15 years of professional furniture making and hundreds of pieces of furniture I have never had a single call back about cupping. Beyond that I can’t say any more.
