# Planing Bowed Boards



## MT Stringer (May 21, 2004)

I donâ€™t now if this method has been posted before, but this is what I did.

I had three 2Ã—4â€™s that were bowed on the wide side, not the edges. Instead of throwing them in the trash, I decided to plane â€˜em flat.

I have done this before by gluing a piece of wood to each side, just as the board lay on the table. This time, I used pocket screws and attached a piece of plywood to each edge. You might be able to see the bow in the boards vs the plywood. To do this I placed the 2Ã—4 on my workbench so the bow was up and the two end rested on the table.

Then I pre-drilled the plywood runners and screwed them to the 2Ã—4â€™s.

This method worked perfect. I didnâ€™t have to wait for the glue to dry or build some kind of planing sled.

Donâ€™t worry about the screws hitting the planer blades. There is too much timber in between them.

After running the boards through the planer until the tops were even with the runners, I turned them over and ran them through again.

It appears I now have three boards that are about 1 1/4 inch thickâ€¦and flat! No dumpster for these guys.
Mike


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## Wordsaw (Apr 17, 2013)

That's dang smart, I'm going to remember that one!


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## WildThings (Jan 2, 2007)

Pretty sweet - thanks for sharing


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## MT Stringer (May 21, 2004)

I have heard some folks complain about using plywood because it will ruin your planer blades. That is probably true. In my case, I didn't have anything else to use. I made sure I only planed off enough of the board to get it flat with the runners, plus another shallow pass. Then I removed the runners and turned the boards over and planed the other side until flat.

I have not noticed any wear on my blades. I have planed a lot of other pieces of lumber since then with smooth results.

Another complaint was the screw holes. Well, these are 2x4's being re-purposed so holes are everywhere. 

A solution to the hole problem is to glue the runners to the sides. It works amazingly well. Some folks report using a hot glue gun to dab on a few big patches and that will keep the boards in place.

The bottom line is this...if you don't have a joiner, or if your workpiece is wider than your joiner, this is a reasonable option to flatten your boards.

Below are some pics showing the runners glued to the sides of 4/4 rough and bowed boards. They also came out flat and 3/4 inch thick.

That was an 8 foot long piece of walnut that I cut in half, then planed it flat. Saved a few dollars on that one.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

Plywood? Really? Maybe because of the glue. It doesn't hurt router bits. Send a piece of Ipe or Garapa through your planer and see what happens. Better have carbide knives. We have even run solid surface edgewise through a planer. I know planing plywood flat gets messy and shears off big chunks sometimes. I built a bunch of hollow core doors one time and sure could have used your idea to straighten out some stock, just had to pick through a ton of wood. I ended up using hem fir for the inner frames. 
I want to add this also, I have some pecan that is warped and cupped also. I guess this method will clean it up.


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## kneekap (Nov 13, 2012)

MT is always coming up with some new woodworking tips. He must be a professional guy. His shop is always full of sawdust! Have heard of carriers before for planing thin stock, but never crossed my mind as being an effective way to flatten those rogue warped boards that I keep in a pile and don't know what to do with.
Keep sharing with us MT.


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## MT Stringer (May 21, 2004)

kneekap said:


> MT is always coming up with some new woodworking tips. He must be a professional guy. His shop is always full of sawdust! Have heard of carriers before for planing thin stock, but never crossed my mind as being an effective way to flatten those rogue warped boards that I keep in a pile and don't know what to do with.
> Keep sharing with us MT.


Ha Ha, definitely not a professional.

Good luck. That pile will become very useful. Gitafterit!


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