Know-How > Jointing & Planing
Before you can build anything from wood, you must prepare your materials. Plane and joint the lumber true, making all the surfaces straight, flat, and square to one another. This is a critical step in any project, and although it sounds simple enough, it requires careful planning.
Think about what you’re doing for a moment. You must take a material that grows naturally in rough, crooked, tapered cylinders (trunks and limbs) and transform it into smooth, straight rectangles (boards). As you do this, the material tends to move with every change in the weather. To accomplish this task, you must understand the nature of wood and remember its special properties.
To keep this elegant Shaker Lap Desk as light as possible, the wood has been planed to between 3⁄16 inch and 3⁄8 inch thick. To make it strong, the corners are joined with through dovetails that were fitted to within 1⁄64 inch. To work such thin wood to such close tolerances, you must properly prepare the materials beforehand.
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