# rough sawn wood



## adeters (Jan 21, 2012)

Okay seems like everybody has rough sawn wood at less cost than s4s. What do you need to finish rough sawn wood? Planer, table saw, jointer? All 3? Bottom line, what tools do you need to use rough sawn lumber for projects? I don't have a money tree like some of the people on this forum.


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## ntrusty (Feb 21, 2012)

Take a look at my post, Spalted Walnut Help. Im fairly new to this myself. Generally speaking however a planer and a table saw will get you a good way. The board on that post was rough sawn 20 years ago by my grandpa. I used a Stanley hand plane on the edges to start and a 13" planer to get it to that point. After that if your financially minded like myself get together with friends that may have other tools or go out to some flea markets, yard sales, etc and pick up some hand tools. Hand planes, scrapers, chisels, and such will let you do most anything you want if you have the time to spend.


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

I don't have a money tree, but if I did, I would probably mill it. :laughing:

As far as what I use to finish rough cut lumber, I have a jointer to get 2 adjacent and flat surfaces, a bandsaw for resawing the lumber to a little larger than the thickness I need, and a thickness planer to plane the boards down to their final thickness. I do use a table saw once they are to the required thickness for cutting the boards to the required dimensions. I hope this helps you.


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## MTL (Jan 21, 2012)

Kenbo said:


> I don't have a money tree, but if I did, I would probably mill it. :laughing:
> 
> As far as what I use to finish rough cut lumber, I have a jointer to get 2 adjacent and flat surfaces, a bandsaw for resawing the lumber to a little larger than the thickness I need, and a thickness planer to plane the boards down to their final thickness. I do use a table saw once they are to the required thickness for cutting the boards to the required dimensions. I hope this helps you.


ditto except i dont have a band saw so i just keep planing and planing and planing till i get to the required thickness. working on a couple of night stands this weekend i created about 30 gal of shavings/sawdust.


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## mike1950 (Aug 29, 2010)

Ken's list is a good one. Rough lumber gives you the chance to make it flat and square yourself. it also lets YOU find the little wood jewels like curl, flame etc. yourself. If the guy at the mill does that you will pay. You go to the store and you get very generic straight(hopefully ) wood. It is no different than anything else in life. Patience= acquiring more skill= acquiring more tools= acquiring more wood. At least if that is what rings your bell.................. Most of us were not rich we just were persistent.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I have the equipment to finish rough lumber but I buy it already surfaced. The cost is negligible compared to the cost of wear and tear on my equipment, the time it takes to mill it and the clean up afterwards. The only time I use rough lumber is when I build entry doors so I can flatten the stiles first before its surfaced. If you just want to do it you would need a planer and a jointer.


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## Nate1778 (Mar 10, 2008)

You need a money tree..............



In all seriousness a set of hand planes and some winding sticks will do it, takes a bit of work though. Otherwise a planer and jointer are the next best thing.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Using rough cut wood vs s4s is not simply a matter of immediate economics. The major factor is how much rough cut wood will you use in a reasonable time? (whatever a reasonable time is defined by the user)

If you do not already have the equipment needed to turn the rough cut into usable lumber you need to calculate the cost of acquiring that equipment vs the savings of the rough lumber. You also need to factor in just how available is the rough cut and just how much of the rough cut will you really use.

In my case, for example, I do not continually work on wood projects. I may do one or two a year or I may not do any major projects in any given year. I have to do research and drive at least 40 miles to find any rough cut. For me the cost of getting a planner simply to use to plane rough cut was not worth it.

I had been woodworking for over 20 years before purchasing a planer. And then I bought it because Sears had a particularily good deal that I could not resist. The planer then probably sat for another year before I used it. Now I occasionally find uses for it. For example a couple months ago I used it to plane down 5ea 1'x12' pine boards to 1/2 inch. I wanted the 1/2' for making drawers and it was cheaper to buy cheap wood and plane it then to buy the finished product.

For those of you who use a lot of rough cut wood it makes good economic sense to equip yourself as necessary.

George


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## johnnie52 (Feb 16, 2009)

Something that no one has mentioned is species availability. Around her about the only s4s wood you can buy is pine, oak, poplar and aspen. Anything other than that and you're out of luck as far as s4s is concerned.

On the other hand, there are places to get 8/4 s2s (which is really only 7/4 as it comes with the two widest sides planed) in almost any species you could want. That is when you'll need the band saw, planer, jointer, hand planes... etc... You really don't want to whittle away on an 8/4 board to get down to 1/2".


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## weavilswoodshop (Sep 3, 2010)

On paper your idea of using rough sawn looks fine. I gave it a try when I was getting started. I ended up spending just to much time trying to put it into practice. I was exhausted and smothered in saw dust and dull blades by the time I had the wood milled to use. Others on the forum are a lot more skilled than me so they probably do just fine but I found a few local wood stores where domestics sold for a few dollars a BF and didn't look back. I still use rough sawn when I come across a really good deal ( I have about 300 BF of hard maple in storage from a funiture factory that closed down) but its not my first choice. You have gotton some good advice on how to do it. Give it a try. You may find it very rewarding to work wood straight from the mill. I hope you do well... Andy


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Depending on the project, I often do my entire cut list from rough sawn lumber, finish the individual parts with a hand plane and assemble. No sanding, other than after applying a sanding sealer.


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## scoffey (Mar 1, 2011)

I use the same tools as Kenbo has in his post except the bandsaw, which is my next purchase. For now I use my table saw for resawing some rough 4x4 sweetgum i have. I gradually cut halfway through on one side, flip the piece over, same side against fence, and cut the rest of the way through, like i said, a little at a time. Then i plane to thickness.


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