Shopsmith Forums

In my woodworking I often get to this point and find myself not sure of how I should proceed.

I have a piece of pw left over from another project 16 x 96 and I need to cut a piece 9 x 69 for my next project. Is it better to rip the stock first and then have a pieces 7 x 96 and 26 x 9 OR should I make the cross cut first and have pieces 7 x 70 and 26 x 16 as the off-cuts? And if you answer this take a second to explain your thought process. TIA

It all depends on what you want as your left over. If it were me I'd like to have a wider piece like the cut off so I would do the 69" cut first leaving the 27" x 16" piece for another project. I'd also save the 7" by 69" piece as that might provide some other nice project wood.

For me having to store a long piece like the 7" x 96" is more of pain then storing the other two cut offs.

Now if I had yet another project in mind I could be talked into finding a spot to store the longer piece but in my experience for the way I do things the wider the piece the better, not anywhere the need for longer pieces. But again everyone has there own ideas and shop conditions.

Ed

I try to make my excess pieces as large as possible to allow more flexibility for future projects, grain pattern, color match or defects allowing of course. In your example I would cross cut first.

thunderbirdbat wrote:I try to make my excess pieces as large as possible to allow more flexibility for future projects, grain pattern, color match or defects allowing of course. In your example I would cross cut first.

Ditto!

Like Ed long stuff is a problem both storage and handling(that rip cut first chore).

berry wrote:In my woodworking I often get to this point and find myself not sure of how I should proceed.

I have a piece of pw left over from another project 16 x 96 and I need to cut a piece 9 x 69 for my next project. Is it better to rip the stock first and then have a pieces 7 x 96 and 26 x 9 OR should I make the cross cut first and have pieces 7 x 70 and 26 x 16 as the off-cuts? And if you answer this take a second to explain your thought process. TIA

I would recommend the first cut to yield a piece 16x90 and that the second cut (rip) give you a final piece that is 7x60.

I prefer getting down to the smallest size possible as quickly as possible. Small pieces are easier to manage while cross cutting than are larger pieces.

Actually, I would cut them slightly oversize 7 1/4x 60 1/4 so that I could work the edges down to required dimension.

Your cut offs are going to be of similar dimension either way.

Which cut off is going to be most useful "for you".

I guess the answer depends on what type of projects you normally work on ?

A Long piece would be okay if you were mostly always making projects 7 inches or less. I pretty much never make "long" projects.

They tend to be as tall as long. Unless it's a shelf/cabinet. So... me personally... I'd opt for the big cut.

I'd make the "crosscut" first - I think I'd have more opportunity to use a 16x27" piece of pw than a 7x96" piece, unless I needed some shallow shelves

If grain orientation is not important I try to keep off cuts as large as I can. You can always make 'em smaller but you cant make 'em bigger.
Bill V

wa2crk wrote:If grain orientation is not important I try to keep off cuts as large as I can. You can always make 'em smaller but you cant make 'em bigger.
Bill V

So which 'larger piece' is better? 7x96 or 26x16?

I think 26x16 is 'better'.

As most have said, I would do the cross cut first for the reasons stated.