I'm working with some 8/4 maple that's about 5-6 inches wide, and I'm wondering if I should joint it immediately after re-sawing or wait a day or two. I assume that even well-dried wood can still move a bit after being cut. What do you all think is the best approach for getting it flat? I'm currently leaning towards waiting, but I'm not sure if that's necessary or if it just slows down my process. Any thoughts?
1 Answer
After re-sawing, the internal stresses in the wood can cause it to move pretty quickly. If you can wait, it's usually better to do so. When I resaw, I often do a preliminary jointing and planing just to remove excess material, leaving some margin for any warping that might occur, then I'll wait a day or two before final milling. If there’s no warping, running it through the planer should suffice for final dimensions.
I hear you! I've noticed that whenever I rip or resaw, the wood has been pinching quite a bit. It really takes a lot of force to finish the cut sometimes. Maybe it's more pronounced depending on the length of the cut!