I was working on a project recently when I got the opportunity to use some airdried timber straight from a mill. I started with a couple of 2.4m-long slabs of rough-sawn hickory, and I was excited to work with them. Air-dried timber has a rich colour, and I find it’s far less prone to chipping and tearing out than kiln-dried wood. I had one issue though, and those familiar with rough-sawn timber will likely see where I’m going. I enjoy working with rough-sawn wood, but those planks will almost always dry unevenly, warping, bowing and twisting. That’s what I was working with, and no planer or jointer I had around was going to be able to deal with it.
There’s a common misconception that a planer will flatten stock. What a planer actually does is reduce the thickness of a workpiece, making one face parallel to the other. Naturally, this means that to get a flat workpiece, you’ve got to start with one flat face. And with the size of work-pieces I wanted to use, the jointer wasn’t going to be an option. I could’ve broken out the hand planes, but that would have made for one long day. Instead, I chose to tackle this problem with a router and a versatile jig. Not only did the jig save me time on this project, but it’ll be great for any rough-sawn stuff I get my hands on down the road.
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