Router-As-Jointer Jigs

[Stephen Tashiro]

I've seen plans for various jigs to use a router as a jointer. The typical plan has rails parallel to the long dimension of the lumber. The router is mounted on another jig that amounts to a board that lies across the rails so you can rout back and forth over the face of the lumber.. What I haven't seen is any systematic way to support the lumber. In the typical case just laying a crooked board on a flat bed will produce a situation where the board will tend to rock. Also, even if it doesn't rock, the way to get the most finished wood out of the project may not be to work on it in the way it naturally sits. So is there a plan that has some convenient way to holding the work the way you want it?

(If you say I have to use shims, you have to tell me how not to lose shims amid all the other wood scraps.)

[John Coloccia]

how not to loose shims:

Buy some tiny eye hooks and screw into the back of the shim. Take some thin line and string it through all the hooks. Make sure it's long enough to make the shims useful. Now you'll never loose your shims. In addition, you can use them to decorate the Christmas tree, or wear it as a necklace at woodworking conventions. :D

[glenn bradley]

(If you say I have to use shims, you have to tell me how not to lose shims amid all the other wood scraps.)

I keep my shims in a coffee can. Stuffed full.

Face jointing (or planing) with the router examples that I have seen have always involved attaching the guides to the piece to be milled. I have never seen a "sled" that will hold 'various material as required' to serve this purpose. This option is generally reserved for special one time cases where the piece is either too large (workbench top) or awkward in shape (natural edge bench) to mill "normally".

[Mike Gager]

oops n/m sorry

[pat warner]

Can be accommodated on the router table. (http://patwarner.com/routertable_jointing.html)
Support with no shims possible.

[Greg Hines, MD]

It seems to me that the OP is asking about face jointing, not edge jointing. I have never done that, but you might want to look at Wood Magazine (or any of them, probably) for a jointing sled for your planer. The one I am thinking of has a series of shims on it to support the bottom of the plank, as you run it through the planer. You could use something similar to support your plank, which I am assuming is too wide or irregular for a planer.

Doc