The Wide Board Club

[barbender]

When long lengths are specified on a cut list, I have learned to ALWAYS verify that length is actually needed. I become tempted to strangle folks when they show up and cut the 24' into 2 12's👎

[Dave Shepard]

Charge a significant premium for the longer stuff and explain why. 

[Ianab]

A beautiful table Ianab ! What did you use for a finish in that beast ? Nice work !

Not my table unfortunately. It's in a museum, although I think it was built in the 70s. Used to be the boardroom table for a local brewery.

[Don_Papenburg]

I like wide boards myself .  But when I ran out of 1x8 walnut I had to go to a woodworkers shop store .  the guy was trying to sell me two 1x4s glued together as a 1x8 . The grain did not match and one had sapwood in the glue joint. He tried his darndest to convince me that it was not a glue up . Then that you could not get 8inch walnut any more .  

Most of the cabinets that I have seen with glue up panels come with mismatch joints (no book matching) or they have a three board panel with a thin strip glued on that does not match color wise . Oh and the panel was less than 10 inches wide.    I think that is what feeds the need for wide board club members.

[Brad_bb]

That's crazy Don.  That guy is crazy thinking people will believe him.  I wonder if they glue up panels in cabinets more to help with stability over time?  It can't be cost I'm thinking because the cost of a wide board is probably as much as smaller boards plus labor to glue them up and surface them?

[Don P]

I doubt the salesboy knew it was a glueup until it was pointed out, then he was just trying to bs his way out of the jam.

In production furniture we would glue up for stability. Lumber would come in random width KD, the stuff you guys are sawing. We would crosscut to rough length, then straightline rip to no wider than 4-1/2" wide, then  RF panel glueup, double end tenoner, wide belt sander and the panel was ready to go into a piece. The tail of the straightline would "make" the panel, that is a pretty high speed job mostly defect checking and giving quick dimensions to the operator. At the rate I was gluing color matching was very hit and miss, the press would open every 30-60 seconds and in would go the next batch of 6-12 panels. I would catch the boards off the glue reel, unshuffle the deck getting dry edges turned in at each panel edge, make a few quick alignments and obvious matches and crank in the next load. Sadly that is the rate most of that stuff is done at. I was making $5/hr. As the wood value went up we would slow down but it is not custom paced.

In a custom shop we would bring in bundles of "16 and wider" Honduran mahogany, nothing narrower than 16" wide, and in a wood like mahogany you can usually get away with it. We did have one client that wanted 3 and 4' wide raised panels in a built in library. The boss tried to talk him out of it but the customer ended up being right. We installed althought the circle top windows were delayed, and it rained. The raised panels indeed expanded more than the frames could handle and the walls of the house moved as well as the paneling.

We got an order from a member yesterday for a wedding guest registry plank... 18" wide x24" long x 1" thick. I'll make one but will also glue up one or two. Not a good idea but my partner said today "it'll last longer than that marriage". I'm not sure if that made me feel better about it or not :D

[SwampDonkey]

You southern folk build furniture way too heavy. ;D :D

[Don_Papenburg]

This sales boy was older then me , he knew better but thought that i would fall for the BS. 
 I was wondering about that production "custom" cabinets that they sell in the big box stores.   
 The way I was told by the old carpenters when I was a kid  : 
the raised panel in a frame would stay straight because the frame kept it that way . Therefore you could use the larger panel and not have to put in a ugly glue joint. If you needed a glue joint, you bookmatched the joint, or you did your very best at aligning grain patterns so the joint would not show without close inspection .
Brad the guy was looking for a dollar any way he could get it . I am thinking he was pinching for the lowest cost walnut he could get , to sell at the highest price .  He was the guy that took over after the Woodworkers Shop sold out in Morris.

[SwampDonkey]

Cartography at the prized dining table. ;D

SWEETWATER Movie Clip starring Ed Harris - YouTube

[FalconFan]

Found this one at the local lumber yard...

[WDH]

Try to put that one thru your planer. 

[tule peak timber]

We worked with Parota once-NEVER again ! :(

[Texas Ranger]

You southern folk build furniture way too heavy. ;D :D

We are some what larger than our norther cousins!  8)

[Darrel]

Try to put that one thru your planer.

Looks like they need to get together with a member of the wide planer club! :D

[SwampDonkey]

Try to put that one thru your planer.

All you need is some glass. ;D

My grand parents used broken glass to smooth rough sawed maple flooring in a newly constructed farm house in the 40's. My grandfather only knew work, dad was trained well. Not one of those "farming from the pick-up truck" farmers with condos at ski resorts. :D