CHAPTER 4, LESSON 2 of 3
GOAL: Steps 4 through 6 of the stock preparation process. Here, you'll learn the procedure and tool options for bringing a workpiece to final thickness, squaring one end and establishing its final length.
Preparing stock for a project can be accomplished with a variety of hand tools, machines and methods. How it is prepared is not critical; what is critical are the properties of the finished piece. It must exhibit both dimensional and geometrical accuracy - flat where it should be flat, parallel where it should be parallel and square where it should be square. Lesson 1 of this chapter reviewed the tasks of creating a face side, face edge and bringing a workpiece to width. This lesson will teach you the final three steps of stock preparation.
Once a workpiece has an established face side and face edge, you can proceed to reduce it to thickness, square one end and crosscut it to length. Follow this order:
Step 4: Thicknessing Stock
| Step 4: Thickness |
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| For correct thickness, you may either plane to a gauge line on the face side or pass the wood through your planer. |
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| Step 5: Square One End |
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| Square one end of the board. By hand, you'll saw to a line you've created with a marking knife. You can accomplish this step in several different ways if you're using machinery. |
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| Step 6: Cut to Length |
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| The final step is to square the other end and cut to length. Use a simple stop on your miter gauge or crosscut table. |
The next stage is to prepare the wood to thickness. The hand method involves gauging round the piece with the fence riding the face side and then planing down to the gauge line. By machine, the piece is simply passed through the planer at the correct setting. You can check and assess these two new faces in the same way as the face side and the face edge; indeed, you will have to if you are working the wood by hand. If they are incorrect coming from the planer, then the planer has to be rectified. These faces do not get identification marks as the face side and face edge do.
Step 5: Squaring One End
The next part of the procedure is to square one end. The required hand tools are a marking knife, a try square, a sawing board and a back saw. Knife around the end, placing the stock of the try square only on the face side and the face edge. Place the piece on the sawing board and saw to the knife line. Depending upon what the piece is for, you may have to plane the end grain down to the knife line and get the end absolutely square with the face side and the face edge. This certainly would be the case in making a set of dovetails. If the piece is to become a rail with a tenon at each end, leaving the end as cut from the saw is correct practice. To accomplish this on a table saw, place the face edge against a crosscut fence. Provided the fence travels at right angles to the blade, you have a square end. The usual device for crosscutting is a miter gauge. Another system is a crosscut table of your own manufacture which slides in the tabletop grooves. You can also cut the ends using a miter saw or a radial arm saw.
Step 6: Cutting to Length
The second end has to be squared and cut to length. Having marked the distance from the first end, the procedure is much the same as for the first end, with one major exception. You must cut accurately; you can't reposition the length line. To machine the ends, attach a simple length stop to the miter gauge or the crosscut table.
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