any tips to "joint" the edge of a 10 foot long board

[david a graham]

Looking for tips on "jointing" the edge of a 10' long white oak board. I do have a jointer. I was thinking of making a long guide and using a router or perhaps a skill saw. I do not require a glue edge as this is the top for a divider wall in the kitchen.

[Erik Frederiksen]

The Festool circular track saws do an excellent job of this.

[Ben Davis]

I agree, but I don't know if they make a 10' long track section. I know they have a 3m (9') section. You would have to add on another piece of track. That'll be fairly easy though since you likely already have the piece of track that comes with the saw.

Other options, if I understand your application correctly, could be to cut it down to more managable sizes and then use scarf joints to connect the pieces. A guide would certainly work, but you would need one face already flat to get a predictable and good result.

[Dave Houseal]

I can tell you what absolutely doesn't and that is any combination of the following:

1.) feather boards

2.) Help from a fellow woodworker

3.) Being really careful

Ugh what a frustrating day that was, and my boards were actually only 8'. I have a fairly short joiner though.

What I eventually did was go old school and got out my #7 hand plane. That took a while, to make everything "right" but was ultimately way easier than trying to use my joiner.

Good luck!

[Roger Jensen]

For a one-off project, I would use a router with a straight edge. Use a new sheet of 1/2" or 3/4" mdf (rip off a strip about 10" wide, the entire sheet is too heavy). They have very straight edges. You'll have to stop and shift the mdf strip halfway through, but I think you can do this pretty accurately.

Make sure to the clamp the mdf to your work piece very securely.

Roger

[glenn bradley]

Your jointer should do fine as long as your work is adequately supported prior to and after the cutterhead. Whenever I am doing long boards on the jointer I avoid using brute force to keep things guided; this is asking for errors.

Using roller stands, adjustable height tables or whatever you have, create a feed path that is supported and you should have no trouble. You could do a test run by raising your infeed table so there is no cutter contact as you pass by and practice feeding your material from the staged infeed position through the cut all the way to the completed outfeed position. It is understood that your infeed staging surface will be a bit lower than the infeed table during the test run. If you can move the material through the path without issue, lower your infeed table and you are ready to joint.

[Prashun Patel]

+1 on using the jointer. As long as it's supported on the in and out feed, you should be able to apply enough pressure on the aft bed to keep it straight.

[Jim German]

+2 on the jointer and some roller stands.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

The Festool circular track saws do an excellent job of this.

+1
and they are on sale now.


I agree, but I don't know if they make a 10' long track section. I know they have a 3m (9') section. You would have to add on another piece of track.

I have no problem cutting 7 feet with my nine footer and then moving it up 3 or 4 feet for a 10 foot cut.

Be Careful
Festool is a very slippery slope

[Myk Rian]

I would just use the jointer. A 10' board can be done on a 6" jointer, that is properly set up.
Use roller stands on the in and out feed.

[Mike Cruz]

I've used the jointer on 12' boards in the past. Don't see why it needs to be any harder than necessary. So, jointer.

[Sean Hughto]

You might try a handplane. A number 7 would be in order if gluing was required. If you just want to pretty up the edge, a 4 or 5 will do fine too.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3274/3029105774_333e2181f4.jpg

[Dan Karachio]

+1 on the hand plane. I would actually enjoy something like this, that is if I had a #7 or #8 (next purchase I am certain).

[Paul Ryan]

A #7 or #8 is the way to go. Don't mess around with that lectric stuff.

[Wayne Hendrix]

OK, who let the neanders in the power tool forum. (<--- JOKE) I think that any of the suggested methods would work, but if you have something about 8' long to use as a guide I think the router would take the least amount of time and work on your part.

[Stephen Cherry]

I agree with everyone, there are plenty of ways to do this.

One thing about the jointer though is that you may not want to just go to town and start jointing. If the board is bowed, you may end taking off a lot of wood. I would start with with a strait line near the edge so that you can see where the wood needs to come off. Then take off material in light passes where the material needs to be removed. As the board gets straighter, you should be able to make longer passes.

The no brainer method is a strait edge and router.

And it would be very satisfying to take off a 10' shaving with a plane.

[Sean Hughto]

I thought this forum was called General Woodworking and only adds power tools after an "and." Sounds like plenty of room under "general" for all effective tools whether they have a cord or not.

[david a graham]

A nice list of great tips - since a router is the only tool suggested that I own I think the straight edge method is what I will use. I've got a really nice quartered white oak board I am going to use as a cap for a divider wall between my kitchen and dining room.

I stopped by my local woodworking store today and had them take the final pass on a Powermatic planer - wow what great results!

Again thanks for the ideas and suggestions

[Stuart Gardner]

Your original post said that you "do have a jointer" but your last post a router was the only tool you had. Did you mean to say you "do not have a jointer"? BTW, I would have used a jointer. I went for years without one. When I finally got one, it changed my life!

[Eiji Fuller]

I also read I do have a jointer. Typo? should have read I dont have a jointer? Go get yourself a jointer. Cant do WWing without one.

Jointer. I joint 10-14' boards regularly for glue ups too. I do have a shop made outfeed extension and set up infeed support whenever I go over 8 or 9'. My jointer is pretty short too. A331. If you have a 6' bed you should be fine with just outfeed support.

[Don Alexander]

nothing against a jointer but i respectfully disagree that you can't do woodworking without one

unless i've been accidentally doing something besides woodworking for the last 25 years :eek:

[Don Alexander]

hmmmm somehow managed to work wood without anything branded Festool also musta been an illusion :D

guess some folks would be amazed at what can be done with something other than the most expensive tools

surprising as it may be to some not all of us can afford Festool's name tag
yet we manage to produce pretty nice stuff with what we can afford

more power to those who can afford it no question its nice equipment , but its far from being "can't live without it"


ok mini rant over with :D:D:D

[dirk martin]

+2 on the Festool setup.
That's what I use, and love it.
-dirk

---------------
www.ThinBoards.com (http://www.ThinBoards.com)

[George Sanders]

I was shouted down on offering this solution on another forum but it works for me so here goes. I often have badly bowed wood that is that is in dire need of jointing. I use a cheap set of clamps that connect the bowed board to a straight board. You set the straight board against the fence on your tablesaw to act as a guide and rip off the bowed part. Then you can have a good starting point to use a router, or jointer or even a hand plane. It is a great timesaver and I have even seen homemade jigs for this very purpose.

[Myk Rian]

since a router is the only tool suggested that I own
It would have been nice to have the correct information in the first place.
Flaming arguments can be the result of bad info.

[Don Alexander]

I use a cheap set of clamps that connect the bowed board to a straight board. You set the straight board against the fence on your tablesaw to act as a guide and rip off the bowed part. Then you can have a good starting point to use a router, or jointer or even a hand plane.



very effective George also very accurate and very inexpensive which makes it a very very very good idea :D

[david a graham]

yes - typo - thanks to all for the helpful suggestions

[Chip Lindley]

Not much woodworking can be done very conveniently with rough lumber without a jointer. The 6" imports are cheap! Mucho cheaper than a Festool.

I edge-jointed a 20 FOOT LONG red oak board on a itsy-bitsy Delta-Milwaukee 6" jointer with only a 32" bed. I set up infeed and outfeed rollers to support the wayy-longg board. Nice straight edge to use on a single figured board for a kitchen counter backspash.

[Stuart Gardner]

I was shouted down on offering this solution on another forum but it works for me so here goes. I often have badly bowed wood that is that is in dire need of jointing. I use a cheap set of clamps that connect the bowed board to a straight board. You set the straight board against the fence on your tablesaw to act as a guide and rip off the bowed part. Then you can have a good starting point to use a router, or jointer or even a hand plane. It is a great timesaver and I have even seen homemade jigs for this very purpose.

Shouted down for this? --- This is an awesome way to help straighten a board.

[Eiji Fuller]

So he has a 10' board he needs to straighten. But first straighten another 10' board so he can clamp it to his first 10' board so then he can run both thru the table saw to straighten the first one?

Sure sounds like the scenic route to me.

[Mike Henderson]

nothing against a jointer but i respectfully disagree that you can't do woodworking without one

unless i've been accidentally doing something besides woodworking for the last 25 years :eek:
I agree that you need a jointer, but I use a hand plane to joint boards.

So maybe what should have been said is that you don't need a powered jointer.

Mike

[Rick Markham]

Not much woodworking can be done very conveniently with rough lumber without a jointer. The 6" imports are cheap! Mucho cheaper than a Festool.

I edge-jointed a 20 FOOT LONG red oak board on a itsy-bitsy Delta-Milwaukee 6" jointer with only a 32" bed. I set up infeed and outfeed rollers to support the wayy-longg board. Nice straight edge to use on a single figured board for a kitchen counter backspash.

Chip you amaze me constantly! Ya gotta work with what ya have!

I went many years without a jointer... sure is nice owning a no. 8 now! Edge jointing is a breeze with a hand plane, a worthwhile investment for the future would be a old no.8 or no.7 a little refurbishing, a hock iron and your good to go. Won't break the bank either!

The table saw with the reference board sounds like the next best bet. (to me) Although the idea of wrestling around with a 10ft board, and reference board attached to it (by myself) in my small shop space is a freaking nightmare. (I've ripped some 9'6" 10/4 purpleheart, by myself, and I rather not relive that experience) Sounds like a good friend would be helpful.

If a board is badly bowed, I break out the tracksaw, then the hand planes for a quick clean up :D That is a recent luxury I have aquired though.

I personally haven't had much luck with a router getting a good straight edge, that's all on me though, I know plenty of you have great success doing it that way. In the time it would take for me to set everything up to do it with the router, I would already be done using hand planes.

I love power tools... but some tasks with a little practice and some knowledge are a whole lot quicker with a hand tool.