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Selecting wood: Tip for beginners

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Previous Back to: Wood and Wood Preparation4 Replies

Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Wood and Wood Preparation / Selecting wood: Tip for beginners

Tagged: eyeballing, sighting, Tip

  • This topic has 4 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 5 months ago by Ken.
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  • John Purser
    11 August 2013 at 10:24 pm #16442

    When I was buying the wood for my work bench (6 studs at a time as that was all that would fit in my car) I kept getting home with unsuitable boards. Some of this probably couldn’t be helped. There’s a learning curve and nothing will shortcut it. You need to pick a board, take it home, try to plane it, and then figure out what’s wrong.

    But there is one trick to cut down on the wastage. Eyeballing a board to determine how straight it is is a learned skill. And if you’re like me when you’re wearing your glasses you can’t see the near end of the board and without them you can’t see the far end! What I eventually figured out was that while my eye wasn’t straight the floor of the home depot was. So I started laying down (Actually I dropped them. Made quite a racket) the boards I was thinking about buying. If they rocked end to end there was a bend. If they rocked side to side there was a cup. If they wobbled there was a twist. If they were stable on the first side flip them over and test again. Then test the narrow side for crown. Step on one end of the board and look at how high the other end springs up. That will give you and idea of where and how BADLY it’s bent.

    Once I started doing this the quality of board I came home with showed a dramatic improvement!

    John

    John Purser
    Hubert, NC

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    Steve Follis
    11 August 2013 at 11:34 pm #16444

    That makes good sense John, thanks for the tip!

    Now I am wondering how much I must have looked like a bobble-head doll when I was wearing my bifocals and sighting down a board at Home Depot!

    Memphis, Tennessee

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    STEVE MASSIE
    12 August 2013 at 12:18 am #16448

    Now you tell me LOL. Seriously that is a good idea and hope the floor is level.

    Steve

    Steve Massie, I live in the great State of Florida, US

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    John Purser
    12 August 2013 at 12:37 am #16450

    The one thing I’m NOT tellin’ is how many boards I bought BEFORE I noticed the floor was flat…

    John Purser
    Hubert, NC

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    Ken
    12 August 2013 at 1:11 am #16455

    Nice one John. Oh yes how many boards did you buy before you noticed the floor was flat buddy. 🙂 😉

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