Jointing a twisted board at warp speed - with Bob Van Dyke

In this video Bob Van Dyke shows you how he flattens a board that many would consider too warped to use.

[MrExamplename]

I use the same technique often. Depending on the board, often I will only cut the leading edge and then lift the board off the cutter at midpoint and start again (without feeding the board completely through). Sometimes I will rotate the board end for end between passes. I find it can help me to end up with a greater final thickness sometimes.

With thought and care you can also deal with longer twisted boards by employing the same technique of stopping mid cut (when you are in a high spot unaffected by the cutterhead) and lifting the board off to start again (sometimes same end, sometimes opposite). You have to read the board and determine what will work best. Once you have it decently flat the rest of the job becomes easy!

[orisguitars]

Thank you thank you thank you. I was attempting to do this with a jack plane my shoulders thank you.

[kevinthomson]

Watching this makes me miss the days I had access to industrial woodworking equipment. Great tip

[annseven]

I'm a Semi driver,
And when I'm driving behind a flatbedder, ....loaded with treated timber or not...
Then if it's not tarped,
My first thought
" Are you kidding me???...It's now raining and the poor soul whose gonna get this load will have warping issues, big time.."
I have ADHD but my Dad was a woodworker, so I'm feeling the customers pain...
LOL
Good video!
We get the simplicity here, done ✅right, what a help.

[berner]

This proves that you CAN use a jointer on a warped piece. People would tell me at the wood shop "You have to cut an end piece off, then rip it down the middle and let it sit overnight and allow the tension to come out and _then_ run the faces and edges of both pieces through the jointer, plane them, then use biscuits and glue but make sure one of the boards is flipped over to get contrasting grains, let them sit overnight and _then_ run the reassembled piece through the jointer, planer and table saw.

But I could show them this video even and they'll probably just say something contrarian like "Too many people adjust the height of the jointer and never set it back, so it's off limits to adjusting".

Regardless, thanks for showing us all this tip. I feel incredibly vindicated

[JesusvonNazaret]

in such cases i usually take a hand plane and plane down the high corners a bit before i go to the jointer

[whoisathome]

This is a neat solution to the problem of twisted boards. Needles to say, an experienced woodworker always inspect the board before attempting to joint it; that's the first step. Next, just as you would when using a hand plane, you should ask yourself - where do I want to remove wood to get the board flat? The obvious answer in this case, just as Bob stated in the video, you would want to take off the "high" corners first.

A way that I approach this - and this is easier if the machine has a European type of guard, known as a Suva guard - is to place the board halfway over the cutter, BEFORE starting the machine, while holding on to the board on the outfeed side. If the board is as twisted as in this video, the cutter will hardly touch the board at all, due to the high corners. Then I start the machine and with both hands at the outfeed side, I will push the corner that doesn't touch the table half way down before feeding the trailing end of the board over the cutter. Then I TURN THE MACHINE OFF! Next I turn the board end for end and repeat the process to remove the high corner of the other end.
This process should remove most of the twist, if not all. In case the twist is still severe, repeat all the steps above until the high corners are removed, or at least less pronounced. Finally, take one normal pass along the entire surface to get a clean face.

SECURITY ISSUES: always turn the machine off before placing the work piece half way over the cutter. When you start feeding, keep both hands on the outfeed side of the cutter.
The Suva guard, or variations of it, has been mandatory in Europe for decades but I believe they have become more common also in the US. The idea is to keep the guard between the work piece and your hand at all times; you will typically start feeding with your left hand close to the leading end of the work piece and the right hand close to the left. When your left hand reaches the guard, you let the hand slide over the guard and as the work piece advances on the outfeed table, the left hand applies firm pressure on the piece. As soon as the piece has advanced enough, you right hand follows, sliding over the guard. The feeding of the work piece over the cutter will continue with both hands over the outfeed table, alternating their position according to the length of the work piece. This process might seem awkward at first, especially of you are accustomed to use a machine with a different style of guard, but after a while it will become second nature.
The technique described here is very safe and also eliminates the need for using feeding pads; in fact I find the pads very awkward and I don't even own any. However, I appreciate that they might be appropriate if your machine has the style of guard that is most common in the US. Regardless of which guard your machine is equipped with and if you use pads or not, as soon as the workpiece has reached the outfeed table, the hand pressure should always be applied there and never to the infeed side. That is, if you want a straight board...

[lynnmckenney]

It's crazy to see him do what I TRY to do with twisted boards. I somehow usually just end up enhancing the twist. -_-

[TrevorDennis]

Thanks for that. I have ruined a couple of boards this week, and wondered if there was a trick to getting the twist out.

[Guy_makes_thing]

Thank you for this. :) My jointer kept on messing stuff up i thought, so I had to plane out twists by hand. Turns out it was my own doing.

[Samlol_drrich]

I consider myself an expert in toothpick making, Cause that’s how all my boards like this end up

[ThePsychoticSmiley]

Super helpful! I just ruined a test board because I didn't see a warp, and it made me think my new jointer was not true by 1/8". I was applying equal pressure.

[jimv]

Thanks! You helped to save my second board. 😊

[markm]

I don't face joint much, but I learned something today. Great Video, Thanks.

[MatthewSullivan]

Pretty cool point. However, face jointing longer boards is always a challenge. As easy as he seems to make it and regardless of your technique, I find that any board longer than 16" requires adjustments to pressure on the outfeed table and the amount of material you take off. Frankly, I prefer to use a surface planer sled with shims and even that's not perfect. the best solution is to hand pick your boards and walk away when there are twists.

[geoffreystearns]

Boards like this in my shop end up in the fireplace.

[remacp]

Seems like all boards at Home Depot are like that twisted board! So frustrating.

[balazslakatos]

I think this method works only with a long outfeed/infeed table.

[toysoldier]

With a small jointer this won't work so have to use a block plane to knock down those corners then go to the jointer. Nice demonstration for those with larger shops though.

[JenkinsBoatWorks]

that was pretty cool. I like your work tables