wood thickness

[twodogs]

when a pattern refers to a wood thickness of 1/2- 3/4-1" etc is the actual thickness the milled thickness? example I picked up a piece of 1" Maple at the lumber yard for a project, I measure the thickness at 3/4".  will this have an adverse effect on the project?

[newfie]

yes if a pattern calls for 1/2" thickness etc,that is the actual thickness you need.

[twodogs]

where does one find wood that is the actual dimension?

[stipes]

Thats one thing I hate these days about planed lumber you get these days. You cant get a true 2x4..As in your case a 1 inch piece was 3/4th.
    I dont know if you can find any kinda lumber that is in actual dimension in a store anymore. Most sawyers will sell rough cut lumber at the 1/4 scale, with means 4/4 is one inch, 2/4, half a inch, ect.
     

    

[Mainewoods]

Some places even sell 5/4, which is usually right at the one inch mark when measured.  Not much in variety at a 5/4 thickness though.

[dgman]

Hey twodogs, When you buy lumber at the lumberyard or home center, you must ask or measure yourself the actual thickness. One inch is the thickness of the board before it was kiln dried. The actual thickness is closer to 3/4". When you have a plan or pattern that says 1/4", 1/2", 3/4" and so on, that is the thickness they recommend. Now if you are just cutting a flat scroll saw pattern that calls for say 3/4", and your wood is a little thicker, It won't make any difference.
I have a jointer, planner and table saw, so I mill most of my stock to size and thickness, so that is never a problem for me. If you don't have the tools you need to mill your own lumber, buy from sources that cater to scrollers. They usually have wood milled to the thicknesses you need. Woodcraft and Rockler are two choices. Also online sources like www.ocoochhardwoods.com will have what you need.

[BilltheDiver]

That very thing gave me a problem last night Dan.  I took a piece of 7/8 (actual) cherry, resawed it, and no matter how many times I put it through the planer, I couldn't get two 1/2 inch pieces.   

[dgman]

Yeah Bill, I think your thinkerer is broken!

[stipes]

Some places even sell 5/4, which is usually right at the one inch mark when measured.  Not much in variety at a 5/4 thickness though.

A 5/4 if you want a perfect 1 inch after planed you better have a straight board and moisture meter with ya showing at least under 12 percent.  I can go on and on about milling, thats was my love in my youth...
   

[scrollgirl]

For what it is worth, when I call for a certain thickness of wood in my patters, I call for the ACTUAL thickness. Since the thickness of wood varies from mill to mill, the only way that I can be certain that the project will work is by using the actual thickness.  On patterns (such as ornaments) where slight variances don't matter, I usually give a range - like 1/4" to 3/16" thick - so that people don't feel pressured into having to find the exact thickness.  But for some things like boxes, etc., they need to be pretty close.  I also say "adjust accordingly" on some projects where you may use wood with slight variances. I think as woodworkers we learn what needs to be adjusted and what can be a bit different.

I hope this helps.     

Sheila

[mrsn]

Some projects/patterns really need 1/2" stuff (or 3/4 or whatever) but most of them can be done with whatever you have on hand and can cut (some detailed things are hard to cut out of thick stuff).
Some patterns require different pieces to mate together with notches, those can be tricky to get the right size. Some will have room in the piece to expand the size from 1/2 to 3/4 inch (or whatever you need it to be) other patterns you have to be a little more creative. Also, sometimes even photocopy a pattern that has close tolerances can change the size of the notch.