This is one reason I love the Woodmizer MP100

[Brad_bb]

Last week we realized we needed to extend the outside rafters of 2 porches in order to do the facia the way we wanted.  So we needed 3.5x5.5 white oak 12 feet long.  I was home over the weekend and was going to bring the material back.

I had FOH white oak rafters that were culled from my shop frame in 2016.  They had bowed too much before installation.  I saved the material though in hopes of using it in shorter sections.  Here is some of it:


 

 

 

They all are bowed to some extent.  In a  good number of them, the first half is still fairly straight. so I cut my pieces out of those.  



 

They started as 4x6 and shrunk to about 3-7/8 x 5-3/4.  They still  have a little bit of bow to them and I realized that I really need to joint them square again.  Problem is my mill is 3 hours away on the build site.  I had taken the MP100 planer off the mill when I moved it.  I can't move the planer to site as there is no 220V with the amp rating for it.  Then I realized that my two extensions are still there at home.  



 
That only gives me about 10ft of working length, so I had to plane/joint 10 ft, and then move the stick and re shim it to do the last 2 feet.  It worked. I ended up taking off 1/4 to 3/8 inch to get the timbers square and true.  I ended up right at 3.5x5.5 which is exactly the minimum needed.  I got to use up some of the warped wood too.  One benefit is that the oak is stable after 4-5 years, and it didn't cost me any more.  I plan to use up the remaining material in the future in a similar way -in shorter pieces, and squaring it up with the beam planer/jointer.  It acts more like a jointer because the material is stationary and the planer passed over it on the track, truely flattening or truing it to the mill bed.



 

[doc henderson]

Nice to have the right, or at least "some" tool for the job at hand.  

[YellowHammer]

That's pretty nice.  I may have to look at one of those.  

[Bruno of NH]

I wonder if you can just buy the planer and track.
I could see a market for the service.

[Brad_bb]

Yes, that's the normal way.  I just bought it with my LT15go so I could run both on the same track.  Having 2 extensions lets me keep the MP100 at the beginning of the track, then the saw head after it.  When just using the planer, I push the saw head down the track.  I say planer, but it's function is more akin to a jointer.

[MDean]

Last week we realized we needed to extend the outside rafters of 2 porches in order to do the facia the way we wanted.  So we needed 3.5x5.5 white oak 12 feet long.  I was home over the weekend and was going to bring the material back.

I had FOH white oak rafters that were culled from my shop frame in 2016.  They had bowed too much before installation.  I saved the material though in hopes of using it in shorter sections.  Here is some of it:


 

 

 

They all are bowed to some extent.  In a  good number of them, the first half is still fairly straight. so I cut my pieces out of those.  



 

They started as 4x6 and shrunk to about 3-7/8 x 5-3/4.  They still  have a little bit of bow to them and I realized that I really need to joint them square again.  Problem is my mill is 3 hours away on the build site.  I had taken the MP100 planer off the mill when I moved it.  I can't move the planer to site as there is no 220V with the amp rating for it.  Then I realized that my two extensions are still there at home.  



 
That only gives me about 10ft of working length, so I had to plane/joint 10 ft, and then move the stick and re shim it to do the last 2 feet.  It worked. I ended up taking off 1/4 to 3/8 inch to get the timbers square and true.  I ended up right at 3.5x5.5 which is exactly the minimum needed.  I got to use up some of the warped wood too.  One benefit is that the oak is stable after 4-5 years, and it didn't cost me any more.  I plan to use up the remaining material in the future in a similar way -in shorter pieces, and squaring it up with the beam planer/jointer.  It acts more like a jointer because the material is stationary and the planer passed over it on the track, truely flattening or truing it to the mill bed.

Lol, I literally just saw this same stack of warped boards yesterday in the "be super scared of milling 4x4 oak posts" thread (may not have been the exact thread title) but it's what I gathered from it. Glad to see some use being given to these boards.

[Escavader]

Our mp100 is set up on 45 feet of track ive done alot of mods including a sawmill sawdust blower overhead.good machine