Planing rough lumber
- Thread starter b_m_hart
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Jesse Cloud
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Good question! I suspect we will get a wide range of answers on this. So, I'll start the ball rolling.
The answer hinges on what you mean by "get right to work with it." If you are going to do a glue up or fasten the pieces together mechanically the same day, I would say go for it. If, however, you plan to leave it around for a day or more and get back to it, its best to mill it close to spec, then do the final milling and squaring just before assembly.
When you mill rough lumber, at whatever MC, you will have interior wood at a higher MC than exterior and it will want to stretch and compress as it dries. If you fasten it quickly, the last bits of movement will be restrained. If you just sticker it or stack it, it will bow, twist, etc.
In practice, I usually mill it close to spec - about 1/16, sticker it, then do the final milling just before joinery and assembly.
Of course, it all depends on what your project is, the wood species, the humidity relative to the wood, etc, etc...
The answer hinges on what you mean by "get right to work with it." If you are going to do a glue up or fasten the pieces together mechanically the same day, I would say go for it. If, however, you plan to leave it around for a day or more and get back to it, its best to mill it close to spec, then do the final milling and squaring just before assembly.
When you mill rough lumber, at whatever MC, you will have interior wood at a higher MC than exterior and it will want to stretch and compress as it dries. If you fasten it quickly, the last bits of movement will be restrained. If you just sticker it or stack it, it will bow, twist, etc.
In practice, I usually mill it close to spec - about 1/16, sticker it, then do the final milling just before joinery and assembly.
Of course, it all depends on what your project is, the wood species, the humidity relative to the wood, etc, etc...
dltflt
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I usually mill mine down to what I want because I have left it sit for while before trying to do any milling. It is so dry here that I have never had any issues doing it that way. The other thing you always want to plane both sides evenly or you may get some cupping.
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Everything depends on what "milling" you are doing, aside from the moisture content, both on wood and metals.
If you are taking a piece of 6064 aluminum that starts out as bar stock, say 3" x 1" or a similar piece of maple, and milling it to an I-beam shape that is 2.5" x 3/4" with a 1/4" web, you are likely to get movement during the milling on both. The metal will likely relieve while it is being milled so you wouldn't want to slab it all off in one big pass (even if you could). The wood is more likely to move while being milled so a more deliberate, gradual approach will work better.
Tom
If you are taking a piece of 6064 aluminum that starts out as bar stock, say 3" x 1" or a similar piece of maple, and milling it to an I-beam shape that is 2.5" x 3/4" with a 1/4" web, you are likely to get movement during the milling on both. The metal will likely relieve while it is being milled so you wouldn't want to slab it all off in one big pass (even if you could). The wood is more likely to move while being milled so a more deliberate, gradual approach will work better.
Tom
Jesse Cloud
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Paint will slow down moisture movement in and out of wood, but not stop it. So the answer would be, yeah, sort of.b_m_hart said:
I agree with the above comments and I would add, it depends on what your trying to do with the final dimensioned wood. If I was going to build a large door I would wait between planer passes as I got closer to final dimension. Longer if it's plain sawn wood, less if it's rift or quarter sawn.
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If you are only planing the lumber to square it up then you can do this anytime as there should be no further movement at a reasonably low moisture level. If, having produced a face edge and side which are square to each other, you then start to saw it into smaller sections you may get some twisting or other movement regardless of moisture content. This is due to internal stresses. To avoid this do as one of the early responders mentions - use it as soon as you can. Try to offset the effect of this movement by using the wood so that any twists or curves counteract each other.
Peter
Peter
