Processing Stock for Woodworking

Here are some notes that cover the way that I prepare my stock when I’m
building something. I’ve found that it is important to bring the pieces close
to their finished widths before they are completely flattened and planed
down and that is the underlying principle for my procedure.

1. Start by doing an initial joint on the edge of the piece of wood.
2. Place the trued-up edge against the fence and rip it (usually on the
band saw) to about 3/16 ths of an inch oversize (more if the wood is
unstable or if it’s a long piece).
3. Then flatten (joint) the concave face of the wood.
4. Putting the jointed face down, run it through the planer. Once the
planer starts making a full cut on the upward face (where the cutters
are located), flip the piece end for end so as to remove equal
amounts of wood from each side when it’s run through the planer until
reaching the desired thickness.
5. Rejoint or finish joint an edge of the piece of wood. This edge should
now be perpendicular to either face of the wood and it doesn’t hurt to
check with a square to make sure at this time.
6. Rip the piece down to 1/16 th of an inch over the final desired width,
putting the final jointed edge against the fence of the bandsaw.
7. Lastly, run the piece on edge through the planer with the jointed edge
down to bring it down to its finished dimension.

If you have stock of sufficient thickness you can do multiple pieces of the
same width out of longer stock; go through the above procedure and then
cut them to length. Wood generally moves very little when it’s crosscut.
If I’m building a door or a piece I want very flat, I’ll cut the pieces oversized
as above, sticker* and then let them sit for a couple of days before I joint
and plane them down. I’ll sticker pieces if I’m worried about them warping.
Sticker a glued-up table top until it’s secured to the base.