Operating instructions

Page 11 Power Equipment Usage Manual (Rev. 5/10)
• In the rare instances when feed direction shows no difference, watch the results produced in
successive passes as grain orientation usually changes as wood is removed.
The time and effort spent in reading grain orientation in a piece of wood is more than offset by
eliminating unnecessary steps in surface preparation and by reducing the potential of a kickback or
board fracture. Identifying grain orientation should be one of those "automatic" steps as it improves
your projects and can help keep you and your fellow woodworkers safe.
4.2. How to Prepare a Board, or Getting Started
All stock should be squared before before proceeding to the table saw, before
gluing and/or detailing and before final dimensioning for assembly.
This is a sketch of a typical piece of wood with the imperfections exaggerated. The point is that most
wood is not flat, not flat along the length of the wood and not flat across the wood. And, we need to get
it flat.
1) First, cut boards down to near final dimensions: to make producing straight, square wood
faster and easier on you and the machines. If the board is very much longer or wider than
needed, cutting it closer to the needed dimensions can substantially reduce the amount of
wood that has to be removed. This both reduces defects and makes them easier to handle.
• Always cut long boards down, creating workpieces a minimum of 12” long and 1” to 2”
longer than required for the project. Then, after they are jointed, planed and squared,
final trim cuts can be made to get them to their final length with absolutely square ends.
The point is to make a big defect into a much smaller one that is easier to deal with at
the jointer.
• If the board is considerably wider than needed, joint the straightest edge and then take
it to the table saw and rip it down to the size needed, plus 1/4” to 1/2".
SIDE VIEW
(This is intended to look like wood
with a slight warp or bow in it)
END VIEW
(This is intended to look like wood
with a slight warp in it)