Cedar, Planes & Flat Panels

[ssmith1627]

I know, I ramble. I don't know how else to ask some of these questions. So please forgive me in advance !

Is there a reason that cedar from HD is surfaced 3 sides instead of 4 ? One side is just rough. And that makes it a challenge for those of us without a planer ! This flatsawn stuff certainly cups doesn't it ? I wanted to make a panel with 2 or 3 boards to give me the width I was looking for. But you can't put one face up, one face down and so on if one side of each board is rough. Was just trying to understand why it was sold that way.

So far I just have an inexpensive block plane and a jack plane. I've never gotten very good with the jack -- never have it adjusted anywhere close to suitable. Somehow that little block plane is really easy to use so I've gotten more comfortable with it. I don't have a planer so last night I took the plane to the back side of those cedar boards with some pretty good results. I think the jack is more the thing to use to flatten a board though -- is there a site that spells out which plane is for which purpose ? How many planes do you guys generally have ? Just accumulate over time ?

I ended up getting to where I wanted to be.....but took me a while to figure out a way to get there with the tools I already have. Amazing how convoluted some of this can become.

Steve

[Tom Miller]

Either surface (smooth vs. rough-sawn) may be desirable for a given situation, so they offer both versions on the same board. Some composite materials in fact are made with a faux-rough sawn surface.

Concerning the planes:
Even if both block and jack planes are well-tuned, there are situations where one is going to cut better, and give a better finish, because it's better suited for that type of wood and grain, as you expected.

But, if one or both of the planes is poorly tuned, all bets are off concerning how the cuts compare. There's much more that can go wrong with a jack plane, though, just because there's more parts (blade, chip breaker, their relative positions, frog position--mouth opening, etc.). The block plane doesn't have nearly so much that you can get wrong.

Regards,
Tom
Oh yeah, for some plane info, try looking here which is linked to from here.

Uhhh, and this one.

[ssmith1627]

Thanks much !

Steve

[ejs1097]

Is there a reason that cedar from HD is surfaced 3 sides instead of 4 ?

Steve

I have that same problem. I have several projects on my 2 do list that call for S4S but can't seem to find it. Even the large lumber yards dont' carry it.

[ssmith1627]

It's amazing what you can come up against in just trying to do something as simple as a birdhouse. I have resawn a few boards on the table saw just to get some 1/2" and 1/4" thicknesses. I can tell you that is NOT a pleasure to do by any means.

I've used the hand plane and the belt sander to smooth that rough side and was actually pleased with the results. Edge joined to another board that was "face up" and you really can't tell a difference. So it'll serve my purpose now.

I almost feel like just ripping everything down or buying 4" width boards and edge joining them to get the panel sizes I want. That way I can alternate and hopefully avoid the cupping. I guess that's something to debate as well -- if you DO have a thickness planer and you plane a cupped board flat, will it "re-cup" over time ?

I guess this is all part of it.....learning the methods to do the things you want to do with the tools you have. Now that I've had a little success with a hand plane, I'm kinda energized. I swear the table saw itself was easier to figure out ! haha

Here's my first little Tudor style birdhouse......halfway done......bottom of the page:

http://ssmith1627.myphotoalbum.com/v...album01&page=9

Steve

[brooks]

Hand tools have undergone a shift into a class warfare kind of thing, it seems. $200+ for every tool worth having or you're laughed out of The Club. Planes especially are such art objects, it's surprising we aren't required to sign adoption papers and pass a driving test before we're allowed to use one. They are often collected with the passion once reserved for Beanie Babies.