Planing

[JMOlshefski]

I cut some lumber down on the band saw to just a 1/16 over 3/8, what the best way to plan it down to the true 3/8?

[jfederer]

If one side is already flat, and you have a planer wide enough, then run it (carefully) through that. Lacking a planer, you could use a surfacing cutter on your Piranha using the Tiling option in VCarve to do it in sections. You'll need to be very careful of the hold-downs with such thin and large material.

If both sides are saw cut, then you have a problem. Even if you have a jointer wide enough, wood this thin will warp while jointing. It will be very difficult to get a flat reference face before moving to the step described above for the second side.

In either case, that's a very thin board on which to use cutting tools. A thickness sander would be a lot safer. Alternatively, have you considered doing the flattening by hand with a #7 Stanley or Veritas plane?

The thing to remember is that you need a flat reference face before you will get parallel faces.

[Xxray]

Drum sander would be the best option I think, might be worth the while to take it to a pro wood shop for processing rather than trying to wing it yourself.

[dgw@telus.net]

I would just surface it on your CNC. Create a basic pocketing toolpath that covers the area. Much like surfacing your spoilboard

[rscrawford]

If you have a planer, you can always use hot melt glue to glue the thin strips to a thicker piece of plywood or MDF and run it through the planer. This will give you one flat surface, then you can remove it from the MDF and plane the other side to get a parallel flat surface.

If you don't have a planer, do the same with your CNC. Use little wedges and hot melt glue to get the part flat to your table and held securely, then surface the top. Then flip the piece and surface the other side.

I usually run the thick board over my jointer to get a flat surface, bandsaw off my strip and then run the sawn side through the planer (hoping the piece doesn't warp when the stresses are released from resawing). Then run the board over the jointer again before bandsawing off another strip. This always gives you a flat reference face.