Profiling cladding myself - am I mad?

[Torx]

I’m back on the never ending garden workshop project.

Found a couple of choices of cladding locally available in small quantities (I only need to cover 2.2m height x 4.8m clad vertically).

UK grown larch, very knotty which I don’t like, but profiled at least

or Douglas Fir which I like better (maybe even planed) but it is just straight planks

The shadow gap profile doesn’t look too difficult to cut with a router.

I’ve got a router table with a 1/4 inch router I don’t mind burning out, and perhaps I would end up sacrificing a few cheap cutters?

I need approx 35 lengths, so 70 x 2.2m passes if I can do it in one cut.

I thought about doing it batten and board but they’re 140mm wide already and I don’t think it would look right, and I prefer it to be flat.

So am I mad?

 

[Inspector]

If you have to ask if you are mad then you can pretty much take comfort in knowing you are.

Being from the land of dado blades I would set up a sacrificial fence and raise the dado blades up along side it. Finger boards to press the wood against the fence and on the fence holding the board down. Then all I would have to do is feed the board letting it fall off the outfield table, feed another and so on. Then go around and take all the boards back to the front of the saw and do it again.

In your case assuming you don't have a dado set or even a saw with the long arbor I would use a rip blade. You still set up the finger boards only this time you run the board through on edge, then reset to cut it on flat. Watch out for the small off cut as it can kickback in your direction. Still much faster than the router and if you set it up correctly safe too.

Pete

 

[Jameshow]

Two passes with a table saw and you'll have a load of kindling to boot too.

 

[Torx]

Like the table saw idea, but no dado cutters - kindling definitely a bonus!

Challenge accepted I think.

 

[Torx]

Well it’s arrived, could plane quite nicely but I think I’ll leave it rough.

I may or may not get to this on the BH weekend, the steel on the other 3 sides has to go on yet.

 

[BillHoughton]

If you're doing it on the table saw, best to tilt the blade for the cut to the surface, so that water drains off. Unless, of course, you're in the part of England where it never rains.

If you're doing it with a router, a rabbet plane will let you amend the angle.

 

[Torx]

If you're doing it on the table saw, best to tilt the blade for the cut to the surface, so that water drains off. Unless, of course, you're in the part of England where it never rains.

If you're doing it with a router, a rabbet plane will let you amend the angle.

I’m not following you, unless you’re imagining horizontal cladding? This will be vertical so hopefully all of it will drain off…

 

[BillHoughton]

Indeed, yes, I did make that assumption. Sorry.