Problem Solving 101 - The Problem

Wood is a natural material and, as such, is prone to irregularities that have to be dealt with. Sometimes we have to live with them, and call them character giving, and other times we can use planning and tricks of the trade to hide or lessen their effect. For example, this hole was deliberately placed on the back side (opposite to the face side) of the board so as not to be seen. The same board flipped over shows our square mark at the top and a discolored edge at the bottom of the photo. In this photo the discoloration is quite evident. The problem here is that the face edge is full of defects that weren't apparent at first owing to the rough hewn look of the raw edge of the board. How do we clean up the face edge and get rid of the discoloration?

Again we have to make some decisions. I can live with some defects in the face edge but I really don’t want the discoloration present in the finished project. I do, however, have quite a bit of waste to work with. I'll describe my solution a little later on.