My first attempt at making boards out of planks - howto?

[big-all]

because the boards are almost certainly going to be cupped you cannot get them flat with a plane without loosing 3mm or so from the thickness
you start at the highest point removing material till you reach the join
small deviations will pull in during assembly
best to use a belt sander and rather than try and "flatten "the wood you better to try and feather the edges to match at roughly 1mm per 50mm
so if you have a 3mm step you feather it in over 150mm on the high side and a bit on the low side as well but never stop moving with a belt sander


doweling 1.5m L dowel every 200-250mm[6 dowels] gluing and clamping 4 sash 4 cross batten pairs glued 5th sash clamp used if required to pull together any loose gaps between boards wiped clean 20 to 25 mins

 

[SunnyUK]

Yes, Bespoke... that does make sense! I ought to have been able to figure that out myself. Thanks for those links - yes, I do need a straight edge instead of always using another piece of wood (which may not be entirely straight). On the shopping list. This hobby will end up being expensive, even though the individual items are all fairly inexpensive.

Big-all,
my mistake for not explaining myself clearly enough. Yes, I only just intended to try to get the edges to feel smooth rather than trying to get the board to have exactly the same thickness troughout. Will a handheld orbital sander do as well as a belt sander, or is a belt sander something I might as well invest in sooner rather than later?

20-25 minutes as opposed to maybe 6 hours combined for me Oh well... they say practise makes perfect!

 

[Bespoke]

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[big-all]

you poor thing i do hope you got 6hours worth of satisfaction

you explained it fine all i was saying is you cant use a plane in a hollow
and if you have done it properly you will have alternated the boards so the growth rings go up one side then down then up then down

so you need to remove the high points around the join or the blade will keep on digging into the mound either side

orbital or random orbit will but much much slower will also show if not finnished off with the grain

 

[Bespoke]

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[SunnyUK]

big-all,
Thank you for the explanation about the hollows... I didn't understand it at first, but now it makes sense. And as I was only trying to plane on the joints, it seems very likely that that's the reason I wasn't getting anywhere. I like it when things make sense! So a sander it is. Yes, I did remember your tip about alternating the growth rings. But come to think of it, I did not pay particular attention to the grain direction and was more focused on turning the boards the way that would give me the smoothest surface.

Bespoke,
that D A sander looks like a nice piece of equipment, but out of my economic reach I'm afraid. http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Skil-7610-Belt-Sander-649698.htm looks more like my price bracket, although I appreciate it won't be the same quality.

Thank you for the pages from the book... this makes sense. Maybe one day I'll find out how to use a router so I can do T&G joints, but for the time being, I think I'd better stick to dowels.

 

[r896neo]

keep at it sunny it is a wondeful hobby. I started in the same boat as you with very few tools and it takes frighteningly long in comparison to someone who has the gear and tells you it should have taken 10mins. Dont worry about things you dont need yet or difficult construction techniques like cutting your own tongues or anything. its your first go at this so try the simplest methods and work up your quality of finish as your skills and tools increase. Car boot sales are great for cheap planes, chisels etc and older hand tools are often much better.

A few years on i have a workshop full of useful machinery and tools but buy the right stuff and you NEED not that much.

The biggest tip i can give you is to be really fussy when buying timber. Trawl through it all for a while getting the straightest!!! most attractive boards you can, it will save you so much time.

Also check out this *****

 

[Bespoke]

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[SunnyUK]

Thanks Bespoke - that's encouraging. And I do intend to do exactly what you say - start easy and then work my way up. For instance, I intend to use a box join to join together the 4 boards that will make up the "foundation" as well as joining the boards going across the front to the sides. Maybe dovetails are stronger and better, but a) there won't be much strain on these pieces and b) it seems to me that it must be a lot easier to cut straight things like a box join rather than getting dovetails to fit perfectly together

I'm obviously curious about that link (hope it's okay to admit that). Would you be willing to email it to me? I'm **********

Hope asking for this is within forum rules. If not, I apologise in advance.

And don't worry if you've got other things to do than emailing stuff to a single individual. I won't be upset if I don't get a reply

 

[r896neo]

emailed that link for you.

 

[SunnyUK]

thanks r896neo. The email hasn't arrived yet, but I'm sure it will soon

 

[Bespoke]

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[Bespoke]

******

 

[SunnyUK]

I'm slowly learning.

Email address inserted into my profile.

I didn't receive (yet) any of the emails sent by Bespoke or r896neo. I've sent you an email, Bespoke, using your website.

 

[r896neo]

hi sunny i tried that again