Jointing really long boards

[Dave Cav]

I'm going to be starting on a large vertical cabinet pretty soon. General dimensions are about 84" high, 48" wide. It's going to be all solid stock. The sides are going to start out as 6/4 African mahogany, full length (84") and about 14" wide. Each side will be a glue up as none of the boards are that wide so I need to joint them before the glue up, but before that I need to joint one edge prior to ripping. I have the stock in my shop; it's been waiting for me for about 6 months, so it's time to get started. (Once glued up the sides will be planed down to about 1.25".)

I have a Grizzly G0594 8" jointer with 75" tables, but I haven't ever jointed anything this long and heavy before (and I have no assistant). Any tips? I am seriously thinking about using a long plywood sled and ripping the first edges on the table saw instead of jointing, as I have a 12" table saw with a huge outfeed table.

Thanks
Dave

[Ron Bontz]

Well no super duper tricks here. But I did some 10 ft+ boards on my DJ20 with no problems. I just made sure I had enough support,rollers, to start the boards due to weight. The out feed as well. Lay a nice straight edge off the tables both ways to set your weight support rollers or whatever you use. Best of luck.:)

[Steve Clardy]

I made a straight line rip jig. Rip the rough edges first then check for fit. Then joint if necessary.
I can joint a 10' board on my 76" jointer bed. Just have to be sure and hold it down real good when it comes off of the cutter head.

[Dave Cav]

Thanks, guys. I have one roller table I could put on the outfeed side of the jointer, and I think I could improvise something with a sawhorse on the infeed side, so I may give the jointer a try; it can't hurt. I suspect I may end up using the TS with a ripping jig, though.

[Gene Howe]

All you need on the infeed end is a $29 (or cheaper) roller stand. Your roller table will be plenty good for the outfeed.
I use a Rigid stand from HD on the infeed stand and two HF rollers on the outfeed. Do 10' easily on my little 6" jointer.
Gene

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Dave,
Am I missing something? Are you jointing one edge prior to jointing and planing both faces? If so, why?
You should have little trouble edge jointing even an 84" board as long as you have a roller on the outfeed side of the jointer. Be sure the outfeed roller is dead level with the outfeed table. Feeding in should not be a problem since you will actually have your right hand under the board and supporting it somewhere near the middle.
Your construction process here should be; joint the concave face on all boards used for the sides. Then plane to thickness. Edge joint one edge on each board. Rip to make edges parallel but stay a bit wide - you will rip the glued up panel to finish width. Match boards for color and grain and mark sides with with a cabinet makers "V". Joint both edges on all boards, marked side against the fence for the first edge and unmarked face against the fence for the other edge. This will allow for any variation from perfect 90 degrees in your fence setting. Glue up and clamp. Cauls would be a good idea to hold the joints even. Belt sand to remove planer marks and level joints if necessary then rip to finished width.
If you already knew this, sorry for the reminder. Your original question made me feel like you might be taking a different approach.
fmr

[Harry Goodwin]

For those without a big jointer or any jointer you can at leaste do a full 8 feet by clamping a straight piece of plywood where you want the cut. Take your router and a trimiing bit with bearing on the top and set to debth and voila straight and relatively well planed. No upper bearing bit clamp the plwood under the cut and use a bit with lower bearing.. Harry

[Gene Howe]

Another method for the jointer comes to mind. On some forum a fellow built a narrow, open box, a foot or so ,longer than the jointer beds, attached a 3' length of ply as wide as the outfeed bed under the 12" overhang just beyond the end of the outfeed bed. That essentially lengthened the outfeed. He clamped the open box to the fence.
He claimed it worked fine.
I suppose you'd use a long straight edge and a good square to align the rig.