drzaius Posted November 26, 2020 Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 I've been biting my tongue for ages on this, but in a covid pandemic induced fit of pedantry, I'm gonna vent here. Way too often, people refer to how much they have used their planer or jointer by saying something like "I've run x number of board feet through it". That is a completely meaningless statement, unless you are stating the actual quantity of wood that has been turned into chips by said planer or jointer. Would it not be better to use "square feet" as a metric of how much work the machine has done? I'm not trying to offend any of the offenders, but it has become pervasive on many fora and YouTube videos and it must be stopped! Tell me folks, have I lost perspective? Does anyone agree with me? What are some of your favorite misused woodworking terms. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted November 26, 2020 Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 Honestly, it’s lineal feet. Unless they are constantly running less than half the width and using L/R evenly, then it’s lineal. Depth of material does not matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wtnhighlander Posted November 26, 2020 Popular Post Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 Regarding cutter life, it makes sense to refer to lineal or square feet. But technically speaking, the entire volume of material 'passes through' the machine, so board feet is a proper measurement. But does either measure truly illustrate the work done? Maybe we should state machine activity in terms of bushels of shavings produced. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted November 26, 2020 Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 Hum shots fired? Jokes, I just said this in another thread and completely agree with your assessment. Square feet is somewhat misleading as well because square feet measured running a 1" wide board through the center of the planer for 12000 feet is not the same as running a 12" wid board through the planer for 1000 feet. I only use board feet because it's a number i can easily measure. I have reciepts for lumber purchased or i roughly know how much i start with. I know how much i use at the end of the year so that gives me a rough measurement. If each board foot takes 3 passes on the jointer and 2 through the planer that gives me a square footage for 4/4 thickness and it'd be a simple convertion to get other thicknesses. That's work though especially when i know in 2018 i bought 750 board feet and only have 50 BF left over. Horsepower. It's a pointless number based off a conversion of torque and RPM. It tells you nothing IMO. Measuring oil changes in miles.... or hours for that matter. It's assuming all miles or hours are equal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post drzaius Posted November 26, 2020 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 Just to be clear, I do agree that board feet would be the most accurate, IF referring to the square feet X depth of cut. I like the bushel idea too. Just thought of another irritating term: "vertical grain fir". For some reason it usually used for fir, not other woods. And what the hell does that mean any way? When it's a tree, yes the grain is vertical, as is when used in a vertical orientation. But you spend all that extra cash of VG fir, take it home, lay it on the bench, & suddenly it's not vertical grain anymore 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted November 26, 2020 Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 Lineal feet, BF, square feet-what I want is an hour meter on my planer because if it’s running I’m throwing boards at it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 26, 2020 Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 I guess bf is appropriate if the board is 4/4. But, do you refer to square foot, each time you run the board thru? And at what depth are you cutting? My brother is the worlds worst at asking me how many bf did I get out of a set of blades on the planer. I just tell him a s*#t pile of lumber as I have no earthly idea and don’t really care. He also asks how many hours I have in a project and I don’t own a stop watch. I guess if I depended on Woodworking for a living, it would matter but as a hobbyist, that would take the fun out of it. I like argumentative/debatable topics like this! 3 minutes ago, treeslayer said: Lineal feet, BF, square feet-what I want is an hour meter on my planer because if it’s running I’m throwing boards at it. +1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 26, 2020 Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 15 minutes ago, treeslayer said: Lineal feet, BF, square feet-what I want is an hour meter on my planer because if it’s running I’m throwing boards at it. Darn, you laid that to rest early if you are considering the wear on the machine. But if you are thinking about the blades you have to consider the width of the boards and where you place them before running each one of them thru. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted November 26, 2020 Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 15 minutes ago, Coop said: Darn, you laid that to rest early if you are considering the wear on the machine. But if you are thinking about the blades you have to consider the width of the boards and where you place them before running each one of them thru. Too much thinking hurts my head, when it stops cutting good I change the blades, but I would like to know how many hours I’ve run it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted November 26, 2020 Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 Run a board of curly hard maple and that should be a good gauge.... if it has more tearout than you expect it's time to change? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Coop Posted November 26, 2020 Popular Post Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 Wish there was a better gauge as I can’t afford curly hard maple 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted November 26, 2020 Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 34 minutes ago, Chestnut said: Run a board of curly hard maple and that should be a good gauge.... if it has more tearout than you expect it's time to change? Hickory does a number on any balde as well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlyoak Posted November 26, 2020 Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 9 hours ago, drzaius said: "I've run x number of board feet through it". It is square feet, clearly. Except when planning thicker material it is more work because of the weight to be handled. But still square feet is the answer. But i never start with a board rough on 2 sides and never a complete board. I start by cutting the required pieces slightly bigger still in rough. Next I true one face on the jointer. Now the wood is ready for the planer. It has a flat surface for the planer bed so when planed it is equal to the jointed side. The more perfect that I can dress the wood the easier it is to complete the project. To me, it is like building a foundation for a building. If the foundation is not true then the construction is more difficult to complete. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Mark J Posted November 26, 2020 Popular Post Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 13 hours ago, drzaius said: Way too often, people refer to how much they have used their planer or jointer by saying something like "I've run x number of board feet through it". Probably the same people who run around North America babbling about 110 and 220 volts . Fi on them I say. Seriously, I agree with TPT Life. It's the fence side of the cutter that will see the most use and drive the need for sharpening. So the best measure is lineal/linear feet. Unless, of course, the wood is ipe, in which case it would be linear inches, or maybe mm. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted November 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 1 hour ago, Mark J said: Unless, of course, the wood is ipe, in which case it would be linear inches, or maybe mm. Haha! Been there and that's not much of an exageration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlyoak Posted November 27, 2020 Report Share Posted November 27, 2020 I will not run teak in my shop unless I get paid for sharpening and set up. Per machine. Teak feels soft. But it is loaded with silica. No good for sharpened knives, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyJack Posted November 27, 2020 Report Share Posted November 27, 2020 I'm really and still bad about saying petition rather than partition when building cabinets.. I'll say where's my tape, rather than tape measure... Woodworker is a loose term... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post curlyoak Posted November 27, 2020 Popular Post Report Share Posted November 27, 2020 I named my hammer hammergo. So when I am looking for it I'd say where'd hammergo? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS Posted November 27, 2020 Report Share Posted November 27, 2020 My pet peeves are mostly in word usage: a line is straight not strait, sandpaper is coarse not course. For planing and jointing board feet would be an good measure if it referred to the volume of material removed, not the remainder, but who want's to do that math...machine hours are probably the most useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted November 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2020 While we're speaking (figuratively, of course) of jointers & planers, the Europeans have the right idea in calling the jointer a planer & the planer is a thicknesser. It makes sense because that's what they do. Our names for them make no sense at all. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J Posted November 28, 2020 Report Share Posted November 28, 2020 Of course that makes "planer" ambiguous so we could compromise and go with jointer and thicknesser. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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