I discussed my milling issues with a retired craftsman and cabinet maker at Home Depot and he told me
if I wanted perfect B&C strips I would have to;
1. Add another finger board directly over the router bit to make sure the strip is flat from start to finish.
2. Run all my strips through a thickness planer so that when I mill the B&C, the B&C will be dead centered
on the strip

Then he proceeded to show me what HD had for thickness planers. They carry Dewalt 12.5" and Ridged 13".
$399 less 10% military discount = $359 for either one. What is the forums take on these brands?
Am I being hustled?

When I milled my strips I cut 2 strips at a time, had a shim fabricated by a machine
shop and placed it in between a pair of Mitsubishi 1/16" kerf blades pulled through with a powered feeder.
I did a bunch at the time in one session. (me and a helper). The strips came out slick and smooth. I sold
a bunch to other strippers and they came over and mic'ed the strips and had no complaints. They may
have run those through a thickness planer when they got them home- don't know for sure. Never heard back from them.
I mic'ed the strips and they looked good to me but I don't know for sure what tolerance is acceptable.
I built Rob Macks "Panache" with those strips and had no issues except for "newbie" problems.
I might add that looking back with what I know now, the "Panache" was an easy build even though it
took me 12 years of part time anxiety.