: I have several 12 foot long by 6 inch wide planks of WRC that need to have
: one true edge cut before I cut my strips. I only have a table saw
: available. I've searched the web and found 3 different methods.

: Rehd's Board Straightener: http://www.dbeweb.com/kayak/pages/rehd.html
: Cummins Board Straightener: http://www.woodcentral.com/shots/shot12.shtml
: Table Saw Jig: http://www.glen-l.com/wood-plywood/plate10h.html

: Rehd's Board Straightener looks like it requires a fine touch on the table
: saw. The other 2 require long, straight edged and flat stock (near
: impossible to find) to make a jig.

: All of these methods look like they would work, but in my hands I'm afraid
: they would give marginal results.

: How do I true one edge ... and do it well ... without wasting a lot of stock
: in the process? Is there a better way than any of the methods above?

: Ken

Hi Ken

About my board straightener:

First of all, I don't think any of them can be any easier or cheaper than this. There is nothing very fine or critical about it. You only need a piece of straight 10" or 12" wide plywood and a few strips of wood. Two that go on top of the straightener as gudes, one on the right of the saw kerf and one on the left. On the bottom, all you need are 4 little strips that will hold it in place on the saw. The alignment is set automatically with a shallow run across the table saw upside down, then the rest is just tacking the strips down in the right places and you are done. There is another way I know of, and that requires the purchase of two or three clamps that screw down to the plywood and then you just place your stock on it, clamp it down and run it through the saw. Easy as pie, but the clamps are not cheap.

As for not wasting much wood, all you have to do is take a string or wire and tack it to the corners of your workpiece and pull it straight. That will tell you exactly how much wood HAS to come off to get a straight line. That is one of the trade offs of buying rough lumber and using this method. BUT you paid a heck of a lot less for this lumber than you would have if it was S4S. If the board has a really bad curve, then the best thing to do is cut it in half and then run through the straightener as 6'ers. Whatever the wood needs to take off to be straight..... You just have to do it. There ain't no other way. The other methods you mentioned you have to adjust for every cut or reclamp. With mine, you set the fixture on the saw and just run the wood through it till you get the edge you want. No adjustments at all once it's built. Just put it on the saw and take it off when done. Doesn't get any simpler. I've run thousands of board feet of wood through mine and it's still just as good as new.

The only thing you need to do is use the same type blade on it that you designed it for. In other words, if you run the original kerf with a Carbide tipped blade 1/8" wide, that's what you have to use each time you set it up. If you use, for instance, one of the thin kerf blades, you will not take off enough material to cleam the outfeed guide and it will hit that every time. If you set it up for a thin kerf blade, and use a wider one later, you will take off too much material and it will not ride straight on the outfeed table. I just set mine up with a standard 10" carbide with the standard 1/8" wide teeth and that's what is always on my saw, so I don't have to worry about it. Just plop the fixture on the saw and go for it. If there is something you are not understanding about this, email me and I'll try to clear it up as best I can. It's really very easy and cheap to do.

Rehd