cedar shingles

[Los_Lobos]

Hello all , I am using cedar underlay shingles on my doghouses, the roof on the small houses is a little over 18"H x 42"L. I am using 4 rows. They are to long and thick so I cut them down to a third which leaves me a big piece of waste, waste is money so I was thinking could I put two pieces back to back with double sided tape, narrow end to fat end to make it a pretty square piece and run these through my planer to thin them up to use?

Thanks, Les

[sawduster]

I think it'd work if you made certain you fed them through with the fat end of the top piece being the leading end. That way the force of the cutter head would be increasing the wedging pressure between the two pieces.

[TDHofstetter]

Won't that be the long way 'round, though? You'll still be wasting about the same amount of wood... except you'll be planing it off (expensive operation) instead of sawing it off (cheap operation).

[sawduster]

Timmer, my understanding was that he was cutting the shingles to a shorter length, then just using the ends (about 1/3 of the length). If he cut the length he was using first, then taped the wedges left over as described, . . . he could get at least a second shingle from each and maybe a third depending on how short he was willing to run through the planer.

[Los_Lobos]

Yes Sawduster, that is what I am doing, I hope to get 2-3 usable peices out of each one.

Thanks, Les

[TDHofstetter]

Ahhhhhh... now I understand.

Seems like it'd be a booger to peel the double-sided tape off after the planing, though. Might be more effective to put together something that'd pass 'em across the jointer instead, with the wide end toward the rear, like a long wide push block with a heel. That'd hold the whole surface down to the jointer bed, keeping it registered.

The thought of that taped-down cedar shake peeling off inside the planer doesn't sit well in my belly.

[Beamer]

Boy... i ain't sure i like a rotary method for this ... it's just grindin' up more cedar... How long is your finished shingle?

Is it anywhere near possible for you to slice 'em rather'n plane 'em? You gotta bandsaw?

My favorite thought would be to lop off the thin end to get shingle #1. Then lop off whatever ya gotta from the resulting end to make it the same length as shingle #1. Put a nice tall fence on yer bandsaw and tilt the table the 2-3 degrees or whatever to match HALF the angle of your shingles. Then you can run the remaining piece through vertically and basically resaw the piece in half to get shingles #2 and #3. Three shingles for the price of one!

Of course, this assumes you got a bandsaw and your final shingle length is less'n what'll fit through it.

A similar method could likely be devised with the shingles on their sides - it might work out easier, as a matter of fact ...

I just don't never like planin' or jointin' down to Zero like that - especially with cedar since it never seems to have as good a grip between early and late wood as other species. You'd have to stick yer tape way the heck down in the fat area because you wouldn't wanna plane through the wood into the tape - that'd cause a good mess, there.