jointing on the tablesaw

[Prashun Patel]

I know it's better to use a jointer or maybe even a router, but for those of you that have jointed on a tablesaw, which jig do you prefer?

1) A sled: the right edge of the sled is straight and rides along the fence. The crooked piece is clamped to the sled and passes through the blade straight by virtue of the sled's straight reference side.

2) An auxiliary fence that the blade gets buried in like this?
http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/2005/01/28/wb/


Method 1 seems safer bkz you can leave the blade guard in tact and should joint a piece in 1 pass, but requires different support sizes depending on the width of yr stock.


Opinions? Which is more accurate?

[Lee Schierer]

I would say it depends.

I've used the sled method for truing up rough cut lumber to get one straight edge. The sled really doens't need any edge even close to being straight.

The jig method seems like it would work well on boards that are already pretty flat on one edge. It would seem that you would have to keep the stock tight to the outfeed portion of the jig at all times to end up with a truly straight board edge.

[Joe Scharle]

I use my taper jig to cut off 'crooked' edges. Works in either miter slot and can handle 4' easily.


http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/1438/thumbs/Taper_Jig1.JPG (http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showphoto.php?photo=28755)

However, I prefer to joint with a router and straight edge.

[george wilson]

The saw blade needs to be very sharp to use the buried fence method,as it will get pushed to one side as you cut.When the saw is coming out of the end of the cut,it will spring back to straight,rounding the end of the wood. Not drastically,but enough to not make a tight glue line.

[Rod Sheridan]

I've never used the TS as a jointer, however I do use it straight line a board using my taper jig.

Every time I do it, I keep thinking "I wish I had a slider instead of a cabinet saw".

Regards, Rod.

[Nissim Avrahami]

For jointing, I'm using....

In case of long boards - a straight edge and hand held router

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t104/nanikami/Sanding%20Paper/S05.jpg


http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t104/nanikami/Sanding%20Paper/S06.jpg


http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t104/nanikami/Sanding%20Paper/S07.jpg


http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t104/nanikami/Sanding%20Paper/S08.jpg



For boards op to 49" long (my straight edge is 100" long), I use the router table...

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t104/nanikami/Glass%20table%20WIP/005N.jpg


http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t104/nanikami/Glass%20table%20WIP/006N.jpg


http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t104/nanikami/Glass%20table%20WIP/007N.jpg

[Ken Higginbotham]

I may be missing something here but if you can afford to go through all of that trouble why not just buy a jointer - :confused:

[Russ Sears]

Ken, I won't try to answer that for anyone else, but for me it comes down to space and money, mostly space. I'm strictly a hobbiest and my shop is my garage. Most of my tools are on wheels and even with that, I'm about out of space. Yeah, I could fit a little benchtop jointer somewhere and if I came across a deal on a bigger model at an auction, for example, it would probably follow me home. But, I get a little bit of a kick out of trying to do without, and it's interesting to me to see how others handle the situation. I like the looks of the straightedge method and have used a jig on a tablesaw with satisfactory results.

[Larry Edgerton]

Shawn

I have a 9' long Melamine sled with toggle clamps that I use if I get a bowed load. I save out the ones with 1" or morebow and do them all at the end. I just clamp it, measure to the narrowest point and run it through the saw at that number.

Its faster than ten trips across the jointer, and I can burn the off cut in my fireplace. :)

[Ken Higginbotham]

Ken, I won't try to answer that for anyone else, but for me it comes down to space and money, mostly space. I'm strictly a hobbiest and my shop is my garage. Most of my tools are on wheels and even with that, I'm about out of space. Yeah, I could fit a little benchtop jointer somewhere and if I came across a deal on a bigger model at an auction, for example, it would probably follow me home. But, I get a little bit of a kick out of trying to do without, and it's interesting to me to see how others handle the situation. I like the looks of the straightedge method and have used a jig on a tablesaw with satisfactory results.

I see - I'm still learning the tricks around here. It is a pretty creative solution... Hope he doesn't take my comments wrong - :o

[Prashun Patel]

I'll eventually get a jointer. It's just a question of money right now. By that I mean I'm very cheap!

[Ryan Griffey]

The only time I don't use the jointer is for long pieces that are too heavy for me to make an accurate pass through the jointer.

For rough jointing on slabs from my mill I place an 8' level between the board and the table saw fence and slice off the opposite edge of the board. This saves me a lot of time and labor at the jointer later on.

For trim work I clamp the 8' level to the board and run down it with my worm drive.

More often I use the table saw method to get the piece close to square, trim it down with the miter saw and then the jointer for the finish.

I find that a high quality 8' level gives me an excellent starting point.

[Darius Ferlas]

Edge jointing works very well also on thickness planers. Mine allows for boards up to 6 1/2" in width and I was pleased with some test runs of 5 foot long cherry.

[Jules Dominguez]

I use a sled which is a long board that runs on a guide strip in the miter slot. Dimension the board so that the edge of it will be trimmed off with the first pass on the tablesaw and will then be flush with the blade. You can use either miter slot. Make the board as long and as wide as you want - I think mine's about 9 inches wide by about 60 inches long. Glue some sander belt pieces to the top of the board with contact cement. Put a cleat across the leading end of the board and put in a wood screw whichcan be adjusted to stick through the cleat to help hold the workpiece in place while cutting. The screw point and the sander belt will hold the workpiece. The only critical parameter to this rig is that the sled slide along the miter slot without play.

I normally use a roller stand at the infeed side to support the sled during the first part of the cut. A guide runner sticking out of the bottom of the sled would cause problems with the infeed roller stand and with the outfeed table, so I use a "loose" guide. The guide is a separate strip of wood placed in the miter slot and the bottom of the sled is dadoed to fit it. That way the bottom of the sled is flat and is stable on the roller stand and on the outfeed table.

I put a post (large dowel) on the tail end and feed the jig with one hand on the dowel and the other on top of the workpiece.

I made mine out of 1" white oak, but a good grade of 3/4" plywood would probably work as well. The board isn't under any stress as it slides across the saw table, so the dado cut into the bottom for the guide strip isn't of consequence strengthwise.

As with planing, I cut my lumber to rough size before prepping it. Makes the prep work easier and wastes less wood. I wouldn't want to try to "joint" an 8' board this way, but it works well with anything under about 5 feet.

[Nissim Avrahami]

Hi Ken

As Russ said....

Here is my "shop"....

111962

Regards
niki

[Loren Hedahl]

Shawn, of course you can edge joint with a table saw using the methods above. You can also edge joint with hand planes a router or a guided circular saw. A novel method is to run a circular saw down an imperfect joint of two boards butted together. This prepares both boards at the same time.

I have a neighbor woodworker who does a lot of glued-up panels and he gets great joints on his cabinet saw with a premium blade. Once he figured out how to do this he sold his jointer.

I use a Festool circular saw with guides for wavy edges on hardwood, then touch them up on a jointer. I also use the jointer for truing up the face sides even though this could be done with a lunch box planer and sled.

We each learn to work within the space we have available, the tools we have available and the finances we have available.

Over the past couple of years I have been disposing of large power tools to free up shop space. Along with this I have been learning new methods and have found this to be quite rewarding.

[Darius Ferlas]

A novel method is to run a circular saw down an imperfect joint of two boards butted together. This prepares both boards at the same time.
This is a pretty established method taken from linoleum floor installers. Of course they don't use circular saws :)

Another way to joint two boards at the same time is with the use of a router, as shown in the picture. You need to secure all elements with clamps etc.

[Ken Higginbotham]

Hi Ken

As Russ said....

Here is my "shop"....

111962

Regards
niki

Hi niki,

Looks like tight conditions - I'm affraid mine isn't a whole lot better.

ken

[Prashun Patel]

Yeah, I've used this myself on smaller pieces. I like this bkz as long as you lay the pcs out bookmatched style, you don't even really need the saw blade to be perpendicular to the table.

[Tony Bilello]

For a surface ready for a glue joint, I just use my table saw in the normal manner. With a good saw and a good blade, you can get a good cut ready for glue up.

The jig in the original post is a Straight Line Rip Jig.
Below is a sketch of my Straight Line Rip Sled. I have 2 of them. One is 5 Foot and the other is 8 Foot long. It is fast and efficient. The crook in the board has been grossly exaggerated.11197http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=1054014

Sorry about the link but SMC will not allow a photo that was once attached to be attached again.

[George Sanders]

When I buy rough white oak from the sawmill it isn't jointed. I use a pair of cheap jointer clamps with a board a little longer than the one I want to saw straight. One pass through the table saw, then another on the flip side without the clamps or guide board. This gets me into the ballpark for a pass or two on the real jointer. Sure save time.

[Chip Lindley]

For The Record, my car or truck has NEVER seen the inside of my garage! It is SHOP space! 24x24 is MY domain. The autos do not deserve a warm dry place, but my TOOLS do.

In threads like this, many ideas come from many personal experiences, to allow a poster with a problem or limitation to benefit from the knowledge of many!

All I can say is that since I began working in wood 30 years ago, I started small and grew in proficiency (and tools)! IF all a man has is a tablesaw, he WILL use it to its MAX potential. I surely did! A good glue line rip blade will give a straight edge IF the stock is guided in a straight line, by whatever jig or sled!

Straight is one thing!....A square 90 degree face is quite another. All depends on how flat the stock is! Getting stock flat is all together another issue and topic. Let us just suffice to say that jointers not only *joint* edges...jointers *flatten* stock also!

[Ken Higginbotham]

What's a 'glue line rip blade'?

Edit: Never mind I was able to google it - Hum, I may have to invest in one...

[Jules Dominguez]

"GlueLine Rip" is the model name Freud gives to its superduper smooth-cutting rip blade. The name implies the abliity to go directly from the tablesaw to glue-up. It does cut very smoothly but tends to leave burn marks on cherry. (Cherry burns very easily.) I posted on that subject some time ago. It is a good blade, but not of course the only smooth-cutting rip blade.

[george wilson]

I don't recommend sawed edges for serious glue line results. A properly jointed edge is bound to fit the other edge better,and be free of fuzz,slight wavyness,etc.,to result in a tighter glue up.

Garage space is much too valuable to waste parking cars in !!!!

[Darius Ferlas]

"GlueLine Rip" is the model name Freud gives to its superduper smooth-cutting rip blade. The name implies the abliity to go directly from the tablesaw to glue-up. It does cut very smoothly but tends to leave burn marks on cherry. (Cherry burns very easily.)

Jules, a question:

IF the cut is smooth then how important are the burn marks? Won't they be hidden when you do the glue-up?

[Norman Hitt]

Jules, a question:

IF the cut is smooth then how important are the burn marks? Won't they be hidden when you do the glue-up?

Burn marks don't accept glue as well.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

2) An auxiliary fence that the blade gets buried in like this?
http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/2005/01/28/wb/
Been using one of those since last Summer.
Quick and easy to make. Works especially well with MDF and plywood.

[Tim Anderson]

I had several trees milled and used the "Joint r Clamp" to joint an edge on the rough stock. Works well on long stock.