I have recently purchased some rough 4/4 quarter swan white oak for a new table project. Most of the boards are actually quite flat, but I have a couple which have a little bow. These boards are 8 feet long, and the table will be about 7 feet long. I do not have a jointer, but I have a thickness planer, and I was planning to make a sled to joint one face flat. I am wondering, however, if I could first reduce the bow by face gluing boards together (which have bows in opposing directions). I was planning on having a final thickness for the top to be around 1.5 inches anyway. So would it be a bad idea to first face glue boards in pairs, then start the process of truing these boards?
face gluing to reduce bow?
- Thread starter amt
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Why not just hand plane one face flat?
Also if you cut the wood up for your parts before final flattening it reduces the work needed. Its much easir to flatten a pair of 3 foot boards than a 6 fot board.(so much for reading skills) not germane nadvice for a table top...
Gluing the boards together strikes me as a bad idea.
Also if you cut the wood up for your parts before final flattening it reduces the work needed. Its much easir to flatten a pair of 3 foot boards than a 6 fot board.(so much for reading skills) not germane nadvice for a table top...
Gluing the boards together strikes me as a bad idea.
tiralie
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amt said:
Gluing the boards together will work. You will still need to joint/plane one edge and face before you thickness plane.
The only issue is how the edge of the table will look with the possibility of two opposing grain directions showing through any edge profile you use.
Why does the whole table need to be so thick can't you just build up the edges? Just curious why didn't you buy thicker boards to start out with?
Tim
I am not sure hand planing is practical. This is an eight foot long board with a 3/16 bow in the middle. That seems like it woul take a lot a material to remove by hand.
I do not want to cut the boards shorter because I want the boards to run lengthwise on the table with no cuts.
I did not get thicker material because it was not available. They do have rift sawn in 6/4, so maybe I can do just the outside boards with that.
Other option would be just a thinner top. Is it feasible to make a top with just 3/4 thickness? This table will be a trestle style.
I do not want to cut the boards shorter because I want the boards to run lengthwise on the table with no cuts.
I did not get thicker material because it was not available. They do have rift sawn in 6/4, so maybe I can do just the outside boards with that.
Other option would be just a thinner top. Is it feasible to make a top with just 3/4 thickness? This table will be a trestle style.
tiralie
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amt said:
It depends on your definition of "practical" You only need to remove enough to make the board flat (not smooth) on one side. While this will take some time, it's possible with a good hand plane and it really is good skill to have. You can choose to take the high bow or bump out of one side or remove the upturn on the two ends and then send it through the planer with you planed side as reference.
amt said:
Agreed. Cutting the boards will not make for very attractive table top.
amt said:
I wouldn't do that, but that's purely subjective. Rift and quarter sawn have different looks, and unless that is what you are looking for I wouldn't do it.
amt said:
1 1/2" inches is typical thickness for a trestle top. A traditional style trestle table is typically built to enable it to be knocked down, so a 3/4" top will not work because the middle of the table is not supported and 3/4" will bounce and or sag without support. You could of course add support by adding an addition stretcher between the trestle ends, reinforcing the top.
Tags Frid adds a drawer under his trestle table, and the frame acts as additional support, but I think this takes away from the simple lines that makes a trestle table so esthetically appealing.
Tim
