Entryway Bench

This project, like any of our projects, begins with a visit to our lumber stacks.  We maintain a supply of rough sawn lumber in a variety of species.  These species usually include, Red Oak, White Oak, Walnut, Cherry, Poplar, Silver Maple, and Hickory.  On occasion we'll get the chance to buy something special and that will be added to our offering once it's dry and until it's gone.

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A while before I'm ready to start construction I go to the lumber stack and pull out boards that are well suited to the project coming up.  A detailed discussion of what this entails would be beyond the scope of this little article; it is something learned through experience… we call it “reading the wood”.  When I have what I need I move these boards into the workshop to acclimate.  If short enough, we will stand the boards vertically.  if not they will be loosely stacked on the floor.

Acclimation is just a snazzy word for adjusting to the new environment.  The environment inside my workshop is different from that outside (thank God).  As the wood’s water content and temperature equalize with that inside my workshop it may want to change shape.  This time I allow it to do so.  While this process is on-going, I can chunk the boards up into over-sized pieces from which the parts will be made, but I must allow them to finish acclimating before milling them to finished size.  If it changes shape after we mill it into finished parts, the parts become expensive firewood.

To begin the project we take our parts list and decide what boards will be used to make which parts.  The way the grain runs through a board will affect it's behavior in the future, for even though long 'dead' wood never stops moving.

I start by skinning off the rough, tanned outer layer of each board so I can see the color and grain more clearly.  I remove just enough wood to get a good look inside, for some boards, one pass on each side will be enough, boards that aren't as flat and even may need 5 or 6 passes per side.

Most of these boards are 8 feet long - that is my preferred length and what we build our drying racks for - but sometimes the logs I buy to be cut into lumber have already been cut into 10 or even 12 foot sections, so the lumber I'll get will be longer.  This batch has some 10 footers in it, so I need a clear space of 12 feet either side of the surface planer, and about 3 feet in the middle for the planer itself; roughly 25 feet of unobstructed room to handle these board in.  I'll take a board off the stack nearest the planer and feed it into the front, support it as it feeds in about half way, then run around to the back side and support the board as it comes out the back.  When it has exited the tool I look it over; if it needs more planing I'll lift it and lay it on the "done-but-do-again" stack on the back edge of the table, if it's done-done then I'll carry it over to my lumber pile and add it to the stack.

When all the boards are done I have a pile of S2S (Surfaced 2 Sides) lumber to pick from as I decide what parts to be cut from which boards.

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