Small stock prep with hand tools
Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Wood and Wood Preparation / Small stock prep with hand tools
- This topic has 17 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 11 months ago by MTaylor.
-
AuthorPosts
-
Hey guys… this question may be a bit base… I apologize. I am preparing stock with hand tools. I have my saws, etc… My question is about prepping small pieces, such as taking a long 4/4 board and I need several 1/4 or 1/2 pieces for a project. What is the best/proper method for efficiently prepping those pieces assuming you don’t have/want to use a band saw?
1 January 2014 at 4:23 pm #24981Hi Jay. I preparing all my lumber by hand from rough stock, I can give you this advice: when you split wood let it stay for a couple days in your shop, most of the wood this days kiln dry. When you split the wood you release some stress, with my small experience I usually have a twist.Just wait what you can get, don’t rush.
Cheers SerhiyJay, I made a lot of small dovetail boxes using 1/2 inch material prepped by hand.
What Serhly said is important to note, if you are removing this much material from a board its going to move, cup, twist etc. IF you don’t have a bandsaw there are a couple ways to do it, one is to try to resaw the boards with a rip saw then plane to final thickness, the second is to use a scrub plane and just hog off material till its near the thickness you want, then smooth to final thickness. On small projects like the dovetail boxes, I cut the pieces to length then scrub planed them down. It goes quick.
Dave… thanks. That’s the type of info I was wondering about. I know this is basic stuff, but I wasn’t sure if most people generally just ripped a board, or just planed it, and if they ripped it how close to the final thickness do you shoot for, or if you just plane the difference… also things like how people hold the smaller boards for ripping… whether they just use their front vise or if they have some other setup… any basic tips like that are helpful to me.
Also, Serhiy… thanks for the advice on the boards. I appreciate it.
Thanks, everyone, for the replies.
Jay, I just use a vice as seen on Paul’s workbench. Whenever I’ve resawn boards it’s been perfectly adequate. Plane one side flat removing any cup or twist, use a marking gauge to score your thickness then just start sawing. How close is dependent on how good you are with a saw :). Scrub planing to thickness is not the same as using a smoothing plane, in pine I can easily remove 1/8 of an inch per stroke so getting to 1/2 inch from 3/4 takes no time at all but you end up with a big pile of chips to clean up:)
1 January 2014 at 9:42 pm #24997Quick comment:
Don’t assume that if you have a bandsaw all is going to be perfect with resawing boards. I have a bandsaw and I have butchered some boards in an effort to save some stock. Even with a proper setup, it still takes patience and skill to do a good job. On smaller pieces, I think I am better off with a handsaw.
1 January 2014 at 10:57 pm #25003I agree with Steve, I have a bandsaw but there is a learning curve also and I have messed up my share as well. In the same token I will never get rid of my bandsaw you just have to learn how to set up and make sure you use the proper blade.
But since discovering hand tools I really am enjoying using them and a heck of lot quieter and no saw dust.
Steve
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.