I'm a bit surprised that this seems so novel an approach to many as he is essentially just making bending wood through the use of relief cuts in order to get the boards to lay flat (I guess it just does not strike me as a unique solution -- but then many would say I am already an oddball!). Just as relief cuts allow one to bend solid, or multi-ply, wood they also permit one to flatten an already bent/warped piece of lumber now that much of the stress has been relieved.
I agree that the underside looks quite ugly, but then that is not always a limitation and, in some cases, such as rustic work, it can even border on desirable (you can darn near get away with most anything on "rustic" works). I also agree that better initial stock selection is nearly always more preferable to the time invested in this approach, but it is a viable method of addressing the issue where one either does not have that option or there are unique traits of the board, or its grain, that you specifically want to preserve -- sometimes the very characteristics that warped the lumber also create beautiful grain structures that look spectacular once stained and you may not wish to lose that character by either selecting alternate lumber or cutting it down into narrow strips.
If one really wanted to hide their work on the "ugly" side then one could simply laminate some 1/8-1/4" thick lumber to the underside to effectively hide it all -- in fact, if the laminated lumber were perpendicular to the grain of the top-side lumber, or if plywood were used instead, then most all of his other work gluing in stabilizing and stiffening strips would be unnecessary since the laminated lumber would have served the same end in addition to hiding the relief cuts.
I seriously doubt that he planed the "fixed" lumber at all as he specifically wished to preserve the saw marks and/or skip planed look of the rough side. His comment was that the boards would only have been maybe 1/4" thick, if that, had he tried to joint and plane them flat, so that was not a viable solution. He simply gave the repaired lumber some straight glue line cuts (or jointed such) then glued them together with the rough cut (presentation side) face down so that surface would be nearly even, then did a rough RO sanding on both sides of the assembled tabletop to get rid of much of the roughness before attaching the tabletop to its base. Remember that he is not trying to produce fine furniture but rather a more rustic style of furniture so absolute precision of fit is not a requirement (though a table that rests flat on the floor without racking its base structure is essential).
I really thank the OP for sharing this video with everyone, especially given that many found it such a novel solution! The more tools and techniques everyone has in their arsenal the better prepared we all are for those contingencies.
I agree that the underside looks quite ugly, but then that is not always a limitation and, in some cases, such as rustic work, it can even border on desirable (you can darn near get away with most anything on "rustic" works). I also agree that better initial stock selection is nearly always more preferable to the time invested in this approach, but it is a viable method of addressing the issue where one either does not have that option or there are unique traits of the board, or its grain, that you specifically want to preserve -- sometimes the very characteristics that warped the lumber also create beautiful grain structures that look spectacular once stained and you may not wish to lose that character by either selecting alternate lumber or cutting it down into narrow strips.
If one really wanted to hide their work on the "ugly" side then one could simply laminate some 1/8-1/4" thick lumber to the underside to effectively hide it all -- in fact, if the laminated lumber were perpendicular to the grain of the top-side lumber, or if plywood were used instead, then most all of his other work gluing in stabilizing and stiffening strips would be unnecessary since the laminated lumber would have served the same end in addition to hiding the relief cuts.
I seriously doubt that he planed the "fixed" lumber at all as he specifically wished to preserve the saw marks and/or skip planed look of the rough side. His comment was that the boards would only have been maybe 1/4" thick, if that, had he tried to joint and plane them flat, so that was not a viable solution. He simply gave the repaired lumber some straight glue line cuts (or jointed such) then glued them together with the rough cut (presentation side) face down so that surface would be nearly even, then did a rough RO sanding on both sides of the assembled tabletop to get rid of much of the roughness before attaching the tabletop to its base. Remember that he is not trying to produce fine furniture but rather a more rustic style of furniture so absolute precision of fit is not a requirement (though a table that rests flat on the floor without racking its base structure is essential).
I really thank the OP for sharing this video with everyone, especially given that many found it such a novel solution! The more tools and techniques everyone has in their arsenal the better prepared we all are for those contingencies.
