Wood Magazine 175 by Bill Krier

Author:Bill Krier
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Wood, Home and hobby woodworker
Publisher: Meredith Corporation
Published: 2007-03-25T04:00:00+00:00

woodmagazine.com

side panel. So you either need two boards from one log or one board long enough to cut all five parts for each side. Remember, a cutting diagram is just a guide, not a mandate, for how to cut parts from boards.

If one project part in particular provides an opportunity to show off an attractive grain pattern, knot, or other grain feature— the top rail of a headboard, for example— note that on your shopping list. To preview how a piece will look on the finished project, cut the part's shape out of a piece of paper and bring this "window" to the store with you to position on different boards. Back in your shop, use the window, or a more rugged cardboard duplicate, to rough-plan the final cut, as shown at right.

Other items to bring along on your shopping trip include a tape measure and chalk for marking which parts you'll cut from each board. If your lumber dealer sells rough-cut or skip-planed stock, bring along a sharp block plane, a bottle of water, and a rag to check for grain details and color.

Let's go lumber shopping

Once at the store, start by weeding out warped or twisted boards that will only get worse with age and humidity changes. Don't pass up rough-cut pieces with a slight taper along the edges; these boards just follow the shape of the tree.

Now you're ready to sort the most promising boards by grain and color. That can be tricky when saw marks and debris partially obscure the surface. If the lumberyard owner allows, here's where your block plane comes in handy. For a look at what's beneath the rough-sawn surface, lightly plane the board to reveal grain details beneath the saw marks, as shown above, far right.

Now that you have a better idea of what's below the surface, choose the dominant grain pattern for your project from the types illustrated at right, center. Quartersawn stock will yield straight-grain surfaces, an easy pattern to match and one that's more diniensionally stable than flatsawn lumber, Flatsawn boards, on the other hand, produce a more dramatic grain pattern and are often less expensive because this sawing method makes more efficient use of each log.

Whether you choose quartersawn, riftsawn, or flatsawn figure, determine which parts need to be consistent with each other. You may want to cut table legs from quartersawn stock, for example, but make the tabletop from riftsawn lumber.

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