: Rob, you've address the rational for having strips with identical
: THICKNESS brilliantly. Very well said. You forgot to briefly
: touch on the importance of identical WIDTH strips. If you butt
: join two strips of unequal width you WILL have a gap when you
: fit the next row of strips. Ok, technically, having strips of
: identical width is only important if your strips are not
: full-length.

Actually even if you don't butt-join the strips, the strips need to be even width the full length of the strip or else you will get gaps (if the thickness varies throughout the strip) or you'll start to skew your strips (if the thickness tapers evenly from end to end). That's why I think it's best to run the board through a thickness planer before ripping strips so that when you rip the strips they will be even width.

If anyone out there decides they need to thickness plane their strips, beware that the strips vibrate and you can get chatter or even break strips. I had some strips come out a bit thicker than intended so I ran them through a thickness planer. I quickly learned that you have to take very shallow cuts. I suggest going as shallow as 1/64".