Flat, straight and square lumber is crucial to starting any woodworking project. Your board has two faces and two edges that must be square and parallel to one another. Four Square, or S4S is a milling term used to describe this. Inaccurately milled wood creates problems that will compound themselves throughout a project. The procedure for accurately milling lumber is always the same. When this sequence of six steps is followed on every board you will be off to a great start!
Step 1: Read The Grain!
I can not stress enough how important it is to read the grain direction on every board before every milling operation. This first step is so important and often overlooked. This step alone will save you time and money by producing a much finer surface as well as saving you wear and tear on your knives.
Grain direction determines feed direction over the jointer.
Grain direction determines feed direction through the planer.
Step 2: Make one face flat on the jointer. (I like to join the crowned face first.)
Step 3: Make the opposite face straight and flat using the planer, to produce two parallel faces.
Step 4: Choose either edge to straighten on the jointer.
Step 5: Rip the remaining rough edge on the table saw to produce two parallel edges.
Step 6: Square the ends on the table saw.
In the videos below I perform all six steps of milling lumber and explain in detail how to achieve S4S.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear Sir:
I am a beginning woodworker and wanted to thank you very much for your video(s).
I recently purchased both a jointer and a planer and have been practicing squaring pine (cheap 4″ wide, 3/4″ thick from Home Depot). I was wondering why not use the planer for both faces and do the jointer for one edge, table saw for other. As the planer has pressure keeping the board with the cutter head it seems this would be easier. Is this idea incorrect?
thanks again,
john ralph
Hi John
If you pass a curved board through a planer, what comes out is a curved board of a uniform thickness. For some applications like flooring for example, the curve is straightened out after being fastened to a flat substrate i.e. subfloor. But for most applications in woodworking your stock needs to be not only a uniform thickness but straight also. A planer will not flatten or straighten but only makes a cut by referencing against what is against the bed of the planer. If your stock is straight then your method works well. If not, then a lot of design and fabrication decisions become more complicated.
I do not know where you are, but most larger cities have hardwood lumber yards where you can buy 4/4 #1 common poplar rgh. This means yellow or tulip poplar a full 1″ thick, in a variety of lengths and widths, that have not been planed at all and sold in what is called “in the rough”. Buying lumber like this is the way to go. It is sold in a standard thickness and then random widths and lengths. The grade is determined by the percentage of boards in a bundle of a certain length and width. FAS (Firsts and seconds) is the highest grade followed by #1 common. These two grades have equal quality wood, but what differentiates them is just dimension. i.e. longer wider boards in FAS. This is without a doubt the best wood for the beginning woodworker to start with. Cheap, works like a dream, can be stained to look like almost any wood. Takes a finish, dye, or paint fantastically. Hard enough to make furniture out of that will last. White poplar is even better, but because of Chinese demand, it is not as available or priced like it once was.
So if you start buying your lumber in this very cost effective way, you will also be starting with a board thick enough to joint a face perfectly flat before you thickness plane it. The result be will stacks of components for your project that really are s4s. I buy almost all my lumber in the rough so I have that extra thickness to face joint for absolute flatness. It just keeps problems from compounding themselves throughout a woodworking
project.
Regards,
Allan
P.S. Thanks for subscribing to my YouTube channel. I have lots of great content to come.