# six easy step to square a board



## bali_carpenter

*Six easy steps to square a board*​ 
Face it. The majority of the wood for sale at home centers or lumber yards is less than perfectly squared. Ready-to-use, squared lumber may be available at some locations, but only at a high, premium price that could scare you nearly to death.











As a result -- and considering the fact that the best first step in virtually all projects is to square your lumber and cut your project components to size -- the Shopsmith Woodworking Academy Instructors offer the following six steps for success in this squaring process. Master these and all your future results are bound to be more professional-looking and a lot more satisfying, as well. 
1. If you’ve purchased rough, unsurfaced or uneven lumber, use a Thickness Planer to surface the two opposing sides to a uniform thickness. The results on many projects are often negatively affected by assuming that all the lumber coming out of the same pile is of a uniform thickness. This is often NOT the case.​







*2. Use your Jointer to joint one edge of your stock. When doing this, set your depth-of-cut to take no more than 1/16-inch in a pass. Keep taking light passes until the edge is straight and true. *








*3. Using your Table Saw, place the freshly jointed edge of your stock against your rip fence and rip your stock to within 1/16-inch of your desired finished dimension. *











4. With your Jointer set to remove 1/32-inch to 1/16-inch, true-up the freshly sawn edge of your stock.​







*5. Now, using your Table Saw, crosscut one end of your stock. Don’t overdo it. Remove just enough to square-up this end.*







*6. Measure your stock to your final dimension and crosscut the opposite end with your Table Saw*










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## TomC

I believe you left out the step to face joint one surface of the rough board prior to planning. 
Tom


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## del schisler

*squaring wood*

what i do is plane wood down to the thickness i want Now 2 flat surface's than i joint 1 edge on jointer tell flat than saw the other one with the jointer edge next to the fence Than joint that one Next i cut off 1 end than flip and cut the other one 6 things done ?? If all the saw's are set up right thing's will work out to be square This is the way i done it for my shops I have had 4 so far No more thanks for reading del

i guess that is what you are doing


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## Old Skhool

TomC said:


> I believe you left out the step to face joint one surface of the rough board prior to planning.
> Tom


x2 

A board that has a cup in will enter the planer and tend to be sqeezed flat by the infeed and bed rollers, as well as the pressure bar, the chip breakers, and then is planed by the cutterhead. It then passes to the outfeed rollers which continue to flatten the stock, as well as pull the wood out of the planer. This considerable pressure flattens out the board, planes a certain amount off, and as the wood exits the planer, the pressure is relieved and the board springs back. Now you have a thinner board with a cup. This is especially noticeable on something like 1x12 pine, or a table top, but may not be noticed while planing heavier denser woods, especially with light cuts, for example a piece of 6/4 oak that is 6" wide, because the wood has enough natural strength to resist flexing. FWIW:smile:


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## TexasTimbers

Before thicknessing a board (in the planer) you need to have one flat face running opposite the cutterhead. If you don't have a jointer you can build a jointing bed for your planer or use a skid board that's known flat. In either case shim the board so the feed rollers can't push the board down and then spring back up once past the cutter. I use my Bailey #7 for jointing and flat-facing when I can but for real big stuff I use a jointing bed and put the cup or bow up so it shims easier than both ends sticking up. Shim it well and you'll get just as good a result as with a jointer. That's subjective and my opinion but whatever works for you.

Thing is I wanted to make sure and put in here for newbies, you cannot start with a bowed/crooked/warped board, run it through your thickness planer and expect it to come out with a flat face much less two of them. You have to flatten one face first.


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## BHOFM

I build boats, I love bowed, warped and other wise
not straight boards.

It saves a lot of time soaking and waiting for them to
dry.

:laughing::laughing::laughing:


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## woodnthings

*My boards are straight*

But my sense of humor is warped. How do I fix it? bill


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## BHOFM

woodnthings said:


> But my sense of humor is warped. How do I fix it? bill


If you laugh at this, there is no hope for you:

Midget fortune teller broke out of jail, they put out
a:












Small medium at large.

:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:


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## woodnthings

*Now that's funny right there!*

I don't care who you are! :laughing: :laughing: bill
APB: small medium at large!


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## Motor Man

subscribed


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