Milling wood for projects - always let it rest?

[MisterDrow]

I see a lot of mixed info out there on this so I wanted to ask you guys here who have been doing this for much longer than I.

When starting a project, is it always better to mill everything close to final size and let it rest for a day or so before final milling? Is there ever a reason or a time when it is okay to not do this?

I have lots of things I've built in the past where I milled everything up and just dove in and there has only been two occasions where this came back to bite me. One of those the wood was still too moist and I didn't realize it until it was too late. The other time I milled everything down for a small project and set the wood out (flat on my bench) for the next time I was in the shop. Four days later I went to work on it and half of the wood had cupped/twisted--perhaps some stress was released after milling? Every other time has been okay, or at least I didn't notice any issues but now I'm worried about projects that went out the door... :/

[wdwerker]

Especially if the wood was just purchased I mill oversize then let it rest overnight in stickers at a minimum. Wood that has been in the shop for weeks or more I'm less fussy.

[MisterDrow]

The stuff I'm working with right now is some leftover alder that's been on my lumber rack for well over a year so I figured it should be relatively stable. I sometimes see people on here using long-term stored lumber on projects and still letting it rest so I wondered. I assume that's just a force-of-habit or 'just to be safe' sort of thing.

[RichardA]

Resting after milling is not always needed, but it's pretty much a good idea, even if only overnight.  And always sticker.  Don't lay it flat on a bench for the over night wait, sticker it. You want equilibrium   in your air circulation, even if overnight.  Wood that's been stored in the shop and not milled can bend and twist just a quick as fresh sticks.  You can always find something else to do for a few hours.

[wdwerker]

I usually try to take a similar amount from both sides. Planing just one side leads to an unequal moisture content.

[MisterDrow]

11 minutes ago, wdwerker said:

I usually try to take a similar amount from both sides. Planing just one side leads to an unequal moisture content.

Yeah, I always plane both sides, as well. I do one side until I get a full pass across the width of the board and then flip it over to mill it down the rest of the way.

[MisterDrow]

16 minutes ago, RichardA said:

Resting after milling is not always needed, but it's pretty much a good idea, even if only overnight.  And always sticker.  Don't lay it flat on a bench for the over night wait, sticker it. You want equilibrium   in your air circulation, even if overnight.  Wood that's been stored in the shop and not milled can bend and twist just a quick as fresh sticks.  You can always find something else to do for a few hours.

That's probably my issue... I hadn't been stickering the wood while it rested for however long. It makes sense now but I didn't really know better back then.

[RichardA]

That's what this site is all about.  Sharing tips, and helping others understand how things work..

[wdwerker]

I've been doing woodwork for close to 50 years, over 40 professionally and I am still learning stuff.

[MisterDrow]

32 minutes ago, RichardA said:

That's what this site is all about.  Sharing tips, and helping others understand how things work..

And that's what I love about this site. Even when I've asked stupid questions everyone here has been amazing and offered help and advice on so many levels. It's a stark difference from the woodworking subreddit I spent so much time on. Hell, I even appreciate the occasional blunt, "That's awful/a bad idea/a waste of time/etc." because it's always given from a place of experience, not as a put-down. It is a privilege to be able to pick everyone's brains here with so much collective knowledge.

21 minutes ago, wdwerker said:

I've been doing woodwork for close to 50 years, over 40 professionally and I am still learning stuff.

Ancora Impara - I have a few coffee mugs that have that inscription on them. It essentially translates as, "I am always learning." It doesn't matter how much you know, there will always be other people who know more and new experiences to be had. 

I'm learning to be patient with myself in this hobby and take the defeats as opportunities to grow. That hasn't always been an easy thing for me in other ventures in the past. There's something about woodworking, though, that keeps bringing me back into it in spite of mistakes and lack of knowledge.

[Chet]

2 hours ago, MisterDrow said:

even if only overnight.  And always sticker.

Yea, I learned this the hard way once.

One other tip along these lines.  I try to get to final dimension as close to the glue up as possible.  It can't always be done this way but it is a good thought process to work with.

[RichardA]

2 hours ago, MisterDrow said:

And that's what I love about this site. Even when I've asked stupid questions everyone here has been amazing and offered help and advice on so many levels. It's a stark difference from the woodworking subreddit I spent so much time on. Hell, I even appreciate the occasional blunt, "That's awful/a bad idea/a waste of time/etc." because it's always given from a place of experience, not as a put-down. It is a privilege to be able to pick everyone's brains here with so much collective knowledge.

Ancora Impara - I have a few coffee mugs that have that inscription on them. It essentially translates as, "I am always learning." It doesn't matter how much you know, there will always be other people who know more and new experiences to be had. 

I'm learning to be patient with myself in this hobby and take the defeats as opportunities to grow. That hasn't always been an easy thing for me in other ventures in the past. There's something about woodworking, though, that keeps bringing me back into it in spite of mistakes and lack of knowledge.

You will be hard pressed to find someone with more woodworking knowledge than Steve . aka: wdwerker.  Pay close attention to him, he's the school we all want to be.

[wdwerker]

I've got a lot of experience with power tools of the small shop type range, some experience with hand tools, limited experience with hand planes and quite a lot of experience designing custom projects to make the best use of available space. I've got lots of experience spraying waterbourne finishes and a good bit of knowledge about finishing in general. 

There are others with more knowledge in finishing and hand tools than I have.  And I have definitely learned that there is more than one way to do most tasks. Be wary of any advice that says there is only one way to do something. 

I appreciate Richards confidence. I have seen some exemplary work from his shop, so listen to his input as well.

[MisterDrow]

So what can you guys tell me about 200 tooth plywood blades?

O_O

Too soon?

[RichardA]

20 minutes ago, MisterDrow said:

So what can you guys tell me about 200 tooth plywood blades?

O_O

Too soon?

Trade it for an 80 tooth blade.

[wdwerker]

Tooth style trumps tooth count. I bet a 200 tooth blade is high speed steel. A triple chip 80 tooth carbide blade is what you want for plywood plus get a zero clearance throat plate. I use a thin kerf 80 tooth Freud ultimate ply & laminate blade.

[Chet]

1 minute ago, wdwerker said:

I use a thin kerf 80 tooth Freud ultimate ply & laminate blade.

I use this one also and I am real happy with it.  

[Chris208]

Cory!!

maybe I've been lucky, or maybe it's our climate here in beautiful southern Idaho,  but I have not experienced Many wacky wood movement issues. 

You know I build slow (still working on the coffee table), and the top is still flat as a pancake. It's had good air movement, but it's just been leaning against a wall. I've only had a milled part move significantly once. 

The only time something went wonky is when I milled something, and didn't allow for airflow. 

[MisterDrow]

4 hours ago, RichardA said:

Trade it for an 80 tooth blade.

 

3 hours ago, wdwerker said:

Tooth style trumps tooth count. I bet a 200 tooth blade is high speed steel. A triple chip 80 tooth carbide blade is what you want for plywood plus get a zero clearance throat plate. I use a thin kerf 80 tooth Freud ultimate ply & laminate blade.

Does no one else remember the guy asking about plywood blades? That post was comedy gold!

[MisterDrow]

2 hours ago, Chris208 said:

Cory!!

maybe I've been lucky, or maybe it's our climate here in beautiful southern Idaho,  but I have not experienced Many wacky wood movement issues. 

You know I build slow (still working on the coffee table), and the top is still flat as a pancake. It's had good air movement, but it's just been leaning against a wall. I've only had a milled part move significantly once. 

The only time something went wonky is when I milled something, and didn't allow for airflow. 

Honestly, I’m probably way more paranoid about it than I should be. Chalk that up to being a n00b. 

Also, damn, son... get that coffee table done! Your wife deserves to have that beautiful piece in her new house!

[wdwerker]

At some point you have to stick your neck out and finish something as best you can.  Then you can do better on the next one. 

[Chris208]

33 minutes ago, MisterDrow said:

Honestly, I’m probably way more paranoid about it than I should be. Chalk that up to being a n00b. 

Also, damn, son... get that coffee table done! Your wife deserves to have that beautiful piece in her new house!

I'm between homes currently, so the table will have to wait until we get into the new house. My new shop is epic. I'll text you a pic. 

Also, come get this block plane!

[Chestnut]

8 hours ago, MisterDrow said:

 

Does no one else remember the guy asking about plywood blades? That post was comedy gold!

I got your reference. I can't remember where or who said it.

[gee-dub]

All good stuff here.  I always perk up when wdwerker and others are speaking on a subject.  Listening to others with long experience sure helped me ramp up again after a 25 year hiatus from the shop.  There's always the "it depends" factor but, as a general rule I do the following with lumber from the yard or out of my own racks:

• Parts selection
  • I mark out parts with chalk; this is particularly important for 'show' faces that may come from odd locations in a board in order to get the figure I am after.
• Cut out over sized blanks containing parts that will be used over the next couple of days
• Mill these parts to over size and let them rest
  • I sticker larger parts but, clamp thin stock flat to let it rest "under influence".
• Mill to final dimension
• Add joinery
• Assemble sub-assemblies
  • Things like frame and panel sides for a carcass, drawer boxes, doors with floating panels.
• Rinse and repeat.

This doesn't mean that this is right for everyone or every thing.  As mentioned by RichardA, the forum lets us all share how we do things differently so that we can all benefit from possible better ways of doing those things in our own shop.

P.s.  I try to remain ever-thankful for our mild humidity swings in these parts. 

[bleedinblue]

57 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

I got your reference. I can't remember where or who said it.

He didn't stick around after that thread, Im not sure why! 

I've been trying to incorporate stickering into my work flow but it hasn't really happened yet.  I currently have several 5/4 project pieces freshly milled that I was going to sticker, but ran out of time so I just left them on the bench resting on their edges.  That's a typical scenario for me. 

I do typically mill to rough size then final size later, but I have never ever had any noticeable movement even without stickering.   I'm guessing it's one of the benefits of the basement shop, humidity level stays nearly constant practically year round.