Thick board square up question

[Tim Flynn]

I have a 3” x 5” x 8’ piece of cheery I am trying to square up. It will become legs for a tble. I have run in through the jointer to get 1 face flat, then through the planer to flatten up the opposite face. The next step is back to the jointer to square up one edge.
The problem is because this board is so big I can’t hold up one of the planed surfaces against the fence of my jointer. It’s clear that the edges are not square because there is “space” between the jointer table and the fence. If I run it as is I just take off material and never square up the edge to the face.
Is there a type of jig I can build to help hold the board against the fence? Like a feather board only beefed up. Should I just use a router to square it up? But then, were do I find a 3”+ straight bit.
Any thoughts would be great.
Thanks,
Tim

[Maik Tobin]

Why do you need to do the whole piece at one time? When I make my legs, I generally cut the stock a bit longer than I need and joint them. Much easier than doing the whole length at one time.

[Tim Flynn]

That’s a great question… No reason at all to do the whole thing at once.
Thanks Mr. Obvious… you are a life saver :)

[glenn bradley]

As Maik says; break the board down into oversized pieces that you plan to use. Now is the time to look at grain selection, coloring, etc. This reduces the amount of material removal required to achieve square. A bow over 8' might take 1/2" to flatten whereas the same bow over 36" may only take a few light passes.

[Steve Wurster]

You could do it with the router and a straight bit using multiple passes and changing the depth of cut, but only if you can get the depth of cut down to cover the entire 3".

Or you could do it on the table saw with a jig or by tacking a straightedge to the board. That might be tougher to do over an 8' length, however. I do all of my edge jointing on my TS using a sled, mainly because my crappy bench-style jointer doesn't have a flat fence that registers at 90 degrees over its entire length. But I also haven't had to edge joint an 8' piece. I think the longest I did was about 5'. But this would work if you take Maik's suggestion and cut the board into shorter lengths. Turn that wide width from vertical to horizontal and it's easier to manage... now do the same for the length.

[Stephen Cherry]

I agree- cut up the board with a bandsaw, then make square. It will move to some extent when it is chopped up.

[Russell Sansom]

I agree about cutting into 2 4' lengths. If you're going to rip these into two each legs, 3" X 2.5 ", then the tablesaw would be my choice. Using a reference straight glued/carpet taped on as a guide so the rip cut goes down the ideal center line.