# Planing Twisted/Bowed Boards



## MT Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

I don't really know what you call this method, but it worked great. I had a pair of 4/4 rough walnut boards that were slightly twisted and somewhat bowed.

I have heard of people doing this before and thought I would give it a shot, especially since the boards are $9.75 bd/ft! I managed to save about 50 dollars worth of lumber.

I ripped four identical pieces of lumber and glued them to each side of the boards This made it easy to glue up everything at once, just be careful what gets glue and what does not. 

I left the boards in the clamps for about an hour and 1/2. Then cleaned off the excess glue. By then, the glued had been curing for 2 hours or more. I got side tracked a couple of times while cleaning them up.

Next step was to fire up the planer and start running them through on one side. I made 1/32 cuts until the outer "rails" were just about even with the boards, then made each additional pass at 1/64 inch. I figured if I made light passes, the rollers wouldn't be putting as much strain of the joints. Who knows. It worked and that is all that matters.

When I got one side of each board even with the rails, I turned them over and continued to plane them down. As it turns out, I had just enough material to allow me to get a finished thickness of 3/4 inch.

Note: If you look closely at the pictures you can see where I marked the uneven parts with a black marker.

The last step was to rip off the "rails". The boards are now ready for use.

I hope you find this info helpful.
Mike


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Great tip!*

It is a fair amount of work, but certainly worth it. :yes:

I made a "sled" using 2 rabbeted rails and some threaded rod to squeeze the boards and then added shims under the low spots to prevent them from shifting.
It's almost the same concept as gluing strips on the edges as you did.

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f2/planer-sled-rails-14940/


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## MT Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

I like your idea. It was only two boards. Save them or buy new ones. :no:

I wasn't in a hurry, so a few hour span and the boards were ready to be used. I think I will make one like yours when I get a break. When ever that is.


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## Ghidrah (Mar 2, 2010)

Thanks to both of you both methods are clever and easy to assemble.


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