The Zen and Woodworking class at Chozen-Ji ended a few days ago, but I'm still processing the experience (and a couple thousand images.) Especially interesting to me was the prep work that is involved in a framing class, which I have never experienced before. Between student practice pieces, sawhorses, and the frame itself, we milled about 65 pieces of 4x4 or 4x6 lumber in my relatively small shop.
Jason would be arriving a week before the class begun. Most of that time would be spent on layout, so milling needed to be as finished as possible before his arrival.
Matt Metcalf quickly sent out the order, ahead of schedule, so wood had been sitting under tarp for 3 weeks. It was air dried, but arrived with a moisture content of about 15%. The grade of port Orford cedar was to be knotty (hard). But by large it was the same or better grade than some clear grade I ordered from another dealer 2 years ago. The machine I used to mill them, a SCM FS52es jointer/planer combo, will get fresh tersa blades, either chromium or hss coated (M+) to deal with the typical grit contamination and this scale of material
To more accurately deal with long stock on the jointer, my brother helped me mount the rails that the Aigner extension tables sit on. We opted for the 530mm wide rails on both infeed and outfeed. With the infeed and outfeed extensions on the total length of the tables will be about 14 and a half feet long. I also have one of these rails on my bench, so I can plane extra long material without a planing beam on saw horses.
