Flattening and jointing warped scaffold boards

John09 · 1 Jun 2015

Hello, this is my first post, nice to meet you!
I have just recently started woodworking and I'm eager to learn and improve my skills. I am currently attempting to make a table top from used scaffold boards however my first 2 attempts have failed miserably due to the boards being too warped

Can anyone be kind enough to tell me how I can solve this problem? I've heard about planer thicknessers and jointers etc but the scaffold boards are too wide to fit in the budget ones. I have a very old jointer plane but I haven't had much success using it, perhaps I'm using it wrong.

If there's any more information you need please ask. All help is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

Phil Pascoe · 1 Jun 2015

Hi, welcome. I think you're peeing into the wind. There's a good reason why scaffold boards, pallets, packing crates and so on are made of the timber they're made of - the timber isn't much use for anything else. Someone with more knowledge of softwood than I will be along to advise you what best (or at least better) to look for.

Chrispy · 1 Jun 2015

The only reason I can think of for using old scaffolding boards is to make use of the rough rustic appearance so planing them flat and smooth seems to just wrong,
If I really had to do such a table I would just wire brush the crud off and screw them down onto the under frame and wax it all up no gluing no cramping, keep it rustic.

John09 · 1 Jun 2015

Chrispy":38gxadtu said:
The only reason I can think of for using old scaffolding boards is to make use of the rough rustic appearance so planing them flat and smooth seems to just wrong,
If I really had to do such a table I would just wire brush the crud off and screw them down onto the under frame and wax it all up no gluing no cramping, keep it rustic.

Yeah was going for that rustic look, Problem is, which I should have said in my first post (oops), is that I have 4 metal legs to attach and therefore need each corner to be exactly level so it doesn't wobble, so as long as the bottom was flat I could still leave the top with that rustic charm.

celston · 1 Jun 2015

You're making work for yourself there, given the outcome you're aiming for. Make the table top by screwing boards down to 2 cross-wise members to keep them together, then screw the legs on. Place the table on a flat surface and identify which leg is short/long and by how much by packing it with shims until it's stable. Then make yourself permanent shim(s) of the right dimensions and insert it between the top of the leg and the table.

Fine joinery it ain't, but then the materials don't warrant it, and it doesn't sound like that's the effect you're aiming for. Note that screwing the boards to cross members is especially bad practise, excused in this case by the material

Myfordman · 1 Jun 2015

If some held a gun to my head to make that sort of table I'd make a frame (apron?) to attach the legs to and then scribe the edges to the profile of the underside of the rustic top.

Perhaps also ask yourself if you really want such a table to start with.

Good Luck