The first step in the wood preparation process is to judiciously cut pieces to over length. Then the board is flattened using a jack or scrub plane as seen here. This is to ensure that the board remains flat as it is thickness planed in the next step.

The board is now planed to close to final thickness. Close to allow for final sanding. Recall that the board is over length. This is done intentionally for 2 reasons. First, the planer often produces 'snipe', a condition whereby the planer blades gouge out the last 2 or 3 inches of travel at the end of the board. This happens because the infeed roller torques the very end of the board applying a sort of leverage and 'popping' the board as it goes through. The second reason is that it is easier to cut to final length as the last step when everything is coming together - less chance for a mistake to creep in.

This is the before and after picture of the roughsawn board and the finish planed board. But we are far from being done with it!

Next we must 'joint' the board. This means we need to put a square, straight edge to the board so that when joined to another, the two are flat without any gaps at the joint line. Usually a jointer would be used for this operation. Unfortunately, we do not own one of these machines yet so I use a table mounter router with a straight bit and a slightly offset outfeed fence as seen in this photo. I could use my hand jointer planer (and often do), but I would quickly go bankrupt, not to mention never completing any projects, if I made it a regular practice to do this. Especially with woods like maple which have a tendency to tear out alot.

Planing generates a lot of shavings!! Usually you can count on 30% waste or so. More on projects where you want to take advantage of the woods character or, sometimes to avoid it!

Next we mark the boards to join them to make up the full shelf, the bottom shelf in this picture. I decided to use the biscuit jointer to help align the boards as they get glued up. This will also give the shelf greater structural integrity. You have to be careful to make sure you locate the biscuits so that they do not show when the boards is cut to final length!

Once the glue has dried the board can be finished starting with the cabinet scraper and then sanding through the various grits. For hard maple I start with 60 grit and work through 80, 100, 150, 220, and finally 320. Finer grits will be used in the finishing stage. More on that later.