Finding n removing twist with a power planer

[Patty cakes]

Can someone tell me how to find n remove twist wirh a power planer with winding sticks. I have a power planer n a thickness planer n want to be able to get it done somewhat quickly. Thanks. 

[Brendon_t]

I would start at YouTube. Both Marc and Paul sellers both have good videos on the use.

It's one of those tasks that to me, would make much more sense visually.

[Tom King]

To use winding sticks, lay one on each end of the board.  Sight over the top of the near one, with your sightline comparing it to the lower edge of the one on the other end.  You don't need to buy them.  Any straight pieces will work.  Most important is to learn to sight down something to tell if it's straight.

[wtnhighlander]

If by "power planer" you mean a hand-held powered planer, you would use it just like a hand plane, although an aggressive one.

If you aren't familiar with winding sticks, they are simply a pair of straight, narrow boards of equal length. Place one on its edge across the far end of the twisted board, and the other stick across the near end. Kneel or squat to get eye level across the sticks, note which end of the closer stick looks higher than the far stick. Mark the board on that side, move the front stick back several inches, and repeat. The marks indicate high spots to plane away. 

Once that side of the board is planed flat enough to not rock, run it through the thickness planer with the flat side against the bed.

[wtnhighlander]

If you have some plywood or MDF handy, a planer sled might be faster.

Here is one example of many on Youtube:

 

[Ronn W]

6 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

If you have some plywood or MDF handy, a planer sled might be faster.

Here is one example of many on Youtube:

Good video.  But I have a couple of comments.'

1.  If your think your board might bend in the middle add shims along both sides of the board.

2.  I prefer to shim both corners of the board. By that I mean shim shere shown in the video only half as thick and then a similar shim where he had is clamp.  Both sets of shims should be about the same thickness.  This way you will be planing away less of the thickness of the board.

 

 

[wdwerker]

I put edges about an inch taller than the base board to reduce any flexing in it.  An 8 ft board gets 4 shims down each side , I wedge them in then tape the shims to the base.

When I start shimming I use a deck of cards, so a twisted board gets the same number of cards under opposite corners.

[Patty cakes]

Wow this site is awesome. Thanks for all the help fellas. I’m an eager n inexperienced so much appreciated. 

Reslly why I asked was I knew about sighting down the length to find the hi n low spots but somewhere this morning i read about from diagonal to diagonal. 

Yes electric hand planer. I used 2 squares with the board on a piece of MDF to find the hi n low. I planed the hi spots till they were close then the side I planed went face down through the thickness planer but came out still rocking. There was also a knot that I think was twisting it so it rocked. 

Basicsly im trying to make some chairs n furniture but I want close to perfect boards first. I don’t like the rocking. 

Im also a diy google professional lol so I’ve seen every video I can imagine. I think I was just pissed because it was close then after the thickness plane it still sucked. 

I’m sure someone will hear me out there. 

Thanks again fellas. 

[wtnhighlander]

Must remember, the thickess planer makes the "working" side match the side against the bed, so if the bed side isn't flat, the other side won't be either.

You can get away with the bed side being a little off by taking REALLY light passes to "skip plane" the working side relatively flat.

[sjk]

Don't forget that you don't need the whole board to be flat, just the pieces you need.  Say that you need an 18 inch chair leg.  If you rough cut the leg from the board (say a 24 inch oversized piece), then you are only trying to straighten/flatten that 2 ft piece, which is much easier and will waste less material than straightening/flattening an 8 footer.

[Tom King]

I forgot I had this picture of winding sticks in here.    You don't need anything fancy.   These I just pulled out of the scrap pile.  This is the viewing angle I was talking about, but you can close up the gap by changing your head height to see the smallest twist.

[Patty cakes]

i wish my shop looked like that. lol im such an inexperienced tradesmen, coming along n seeing why things suck but its a painful process. its also 7' long by 5' wide. looking at the router table i built a while ago. Its so dam big n heavy. i was gonna put casters n drawers but i cant see how much room it takes up for how much it gets used to make ti worth it. 1 day at a time.

I remember what was bugging me was someone womewhere put them on the diagonals to check for twist. Is that right ? and knots have lots to do with keeping twist ?

 

[Coop]

Patty, keep in mind what @sjk said above. The shorter the board the less twist and cup and waste you’ll have. 

[Patty cakes]

and i have to be embarrassing honest with ya. I usually use 2 by 4s i pull out of the junk pile because its free. really with my skill level n what i want to achieve i couldn't afford to do it any other way. Short. i have basically only worked with a 2 by 4 about 48" long. Is that short ?

Thanks again boys.

[Patty cakes]

Thats also a awesome looking clamp table looking thing. you should put up some more pics n explain how that works. looks like the clamping part is plenty wide enough to hold boards while u plane them. thing is the surface the board sits on has to be dead flat right

[Tom King]

That's not really a shop, but a room in the half in the ground basement of an 1850 house I was working on then.  Notice the complete lack of any kind of lighting, other than portable lighting.  The "clamping table" is called a work bench.   That's a small Lervad (brand name), that's not made any more.  In that picture, it's sitting on 2x4 blocks to get it level with the table saw, and butted up against the table saw to give it a little more mass against moving when working on stuff on top of it.

In that picture, I was flattening the panels for these shutters.  I thought I had some better overall view pictures of those shutters here, but these are the only ones I have stored in the gallery here.  They were made to match other old millwork on that house, and look a bit crude on purpose.  That "shop" picture is behind those windows under the porch.