Reply To: Auditory winding sticks
Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Wood and Wood Preparation / Auditory winding sticks / Reply To: Auditory winding sticks
Nice idea. Another option is to use the bench top. Put the surface being worked face down on the bench and test diagonally opposite corners. If they rock, then the other two corners are high. Well, usually. Take care that, if you develop a hump in the middle or thin up the ends too much, this can be another cause of rocking, but that’s good to know, too. If you press on the middle of the ends and get rocking, that’s a hint that there’s a hump. If the piece isn’t too long, just put a straight edge on it now and then to check for humps.
I’ll go as far as I can with this and then switch to winding sticks for the final check. Often it’s just that, a check, and no further work is needed; other times, a little more is needed. I much prefer to work against a planing stop than in the vise because I can just flip the board over in half a second, give it a rock, flip it back over, and return to work. This is quick, but only as accurate as your bench top. My bench isn’t great, actually, but the method still works reasonably well.
In the end, I think winding sticks are more accurate because they amplify things and can be placed exactly where the joinery will go, but this saves time leading up to the winding sticks. Sighting winding sticks is getting harder with age, though. Presbyopia is such a joy.