Long stiles - Woodworking Talk

djonesax · 12-17-2008, 02:06 PM

So I have 6 x 4’ long stiles to make. I haven’t started yet but I am a little worried about finding planks of padauk straight enough to joint a 4’ long piece of wood. I’ll do my best to purchase the straightest wood possible but if I end up having to use pieces that are twisted more than what the jointer can get out, are there any other techniques for making stiles longer versus purchasing another piece of wood?

Probably sounds like a strange question but what got me thinking about it was a plank of walnut that I bought for some speaker stands ended up being bowed a bit more that it looked when I bought it. Now I am pondering how to get a straight 2 foot long piece with out cutting it into 1 foot pieces, jointing it and gluing it end to end. Somehow that just doesn’t seem right.

David

GeorgeC · 12-17-2008, 04:37 PM

Where do you buy your wood?

Steve Wall Lumber Company in Mayodan in not far from you. I would bet that you can get the pieces of Padauk that you need from them and have no worries about it not being first quality.

walllunber.com

George

cabinetman · 12-17-2008, 05:24 PM

You should start with pieces that are long enough, not joining short pieces end to end.

firehawkmph · 12-17-2008, 09:20 PM

Our local woodcraft store carries paduuk 1 x planks that are 7-8' tall. Normally they are very flat. The last time I was in there they had one that was 21" wide and beautiful grain. The only reason I didn't buy it for a future project was because I was in my jeep wrangler and didn't want to take it home hanging out the back hatch.
Mike Hawkins

djonesax · 12-18-2008, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeorgeC

Where do you buy your wood?

I've been getting it at woodcraft. It’s a bit more expensive but it saves me in gas. I was planing some walnut purchased from there last night and found lots of led balls under the surface. Must have been hit with a shot gun or something. Also a lot of there wood isn’t very straight. I think its because they store is standing up.

I'll be fine; I can just make sure I select good pieces. I was mainly wondering if there was a technique for joining end to end just in case I was ever in that situation.

And about the walnut for the speaker stands, after I ripped it in strips for the shafts almost all the twist was gone, so no worries and jointing was easy.

GeorgeC · 12-18-2008, 10:19 AM

I will bet that the 60 mile round trip will save you much more in wood $$$ than the gas cost.

G

frankp · 12-18-2008, 03:29 PM

I haven't had any issues buying straight paduak. I got a piece 6 feet long and one 8 feet long that were both nearly perfect. Of course one piece is 16/4 but the other was only 5/4. Both are about 10 inches wide. Paduak is, from what I understand and what I've experienced, fairly dimensionally sound.