Making wider stock

[Tony Truong]

Hi guys,

I'm working on my first project, an aquarium stand. I started off using cherry plywood but I didn't like it because the veneer is just too thin. I believe its 3/32". I decided to use solid walnut instead.

The walnut I ordered is between 4" to 10" in width so I'll need to glue the boards together. Also, one side of the boards is rough.

I have a miter saw, tablesaw, drill, finishnailer, bradnailer and jigsaw (all dewalt). I'm going to order the dewalt thickness planer today.

My understanding is I need to cut the edges so they are perfectly straight. I assume I can do this with my tablesaw? Then I'll glue it together using pipe clamps. After that, put it through the planer to get the right depth. The planer will only be able to accept 12.5" width max, so after i get to that point, I'll have to plane the boards before gluing.

Anything else I'm missing?

[Jerome Hanby]

You can make a sled out of plywood where one of the finished plywood edges runs along your table saw fence and the material you need a straight edge hangs off the left side of the sled. You can work out some clamping arrangement, use double sided tape, any number of ways to secure the material to the sled. If you think it through first, you can build that sled so you can also your it with your new planer to get one flat side. You can shim as necessary between the sled and the material, then run it through the planer yo establish a flat side that at right angles with the straight edge you made. After that plane it with that flat side down until it is the desired thickness and you will make the other side flat and parallel. Then run your straight edge against the table saw fence when you cut to width and you will have a four squared piece of material.

Since you are gluing up wide panels, you may want to invest in a Freud glue line rip blade. As advertised, you can get edge cuts ready to glue up. Of you could invest in and tune up a good hand plane and use the trick where you clamp your two pieces together, joining edges up and plane them both at once to make a glue edge...

[Tony Truong]

You can make a sled out of plywood where one of the finished plywood edges runs along your table saw fence and the material you need a straight edge hangs off the left side of the sled. You can work out some clamping arrangement, use double sided tape, any number of ways to secure the material to the sled. If you think it through first, you can build that sled so you can also your it with your new planer to get one flat side. You can shim as necessary between the sled and the material, then run it through the planer yo establish a flat side that at right angles with the straight edge you made. After that plane it with that flat side down until it is the desired thickness and you will make the other side flat and parallel. Then run your straight edge against the table saw fence when you cut to width and you will have a four squared piece of material.

Since you are gluing up wide panels, you may want to invest in a Freud glue line rip blade. As advertised, you can get edge cuts ready to glue up. Of you could invest in and tune up a good hand plane and use the trick where you clamp your two pieces together, joining edges up and plane them both at once to make a glue edge...

Thanks Jerome! So the freud glue line rip blade will make the cuts more accurate so i can glue? I'll stop by the store to pick that up today. I'm most concerned about the gluing because the plywood I used to test the cuts dont seem to look too good when I put them together. There's an obvious line you can see as if it was two pieces of wood put together and not one big piece.

Also, is sanding gluing necessarily?

[Bill Huber]

Lay all the boards out the way you want the grain to be and what looks the best. There are different ways to do it but the way I have found for me is to start at the first joint and mark one side of the joint A and the other side B, now do this for every joint.

Now with the glue line rip blade take off just a small amount with the A side up and then flip the next one over and with the B side down rip a small amount off of it.

By doing this if you blade is not exactly 90° your boards will sill be flat when you glue them up.

If the boards do not match at the ends like you want, I use quick clamps at the joint and I also like to use cauls with the glue up.

201327

[glenn bradley]

Success in edge jointing depends on an accurate reference surface, commonly the boards face. Having a good jointed face is always my step prior to edge jointing.

[Jerome Hanby]

I like that Freud blade so much that it's the normal resident on my table saw. Only swap it out for dado's or big crosscuts. As for sanding the glue, I'm going to assume you mean the squeeze out after you clamp everything up. I'd let the glue set long enough to get gummy, then use a scrapper of some kind to remove the excess. I guess you could use blue painters tape along the edge of each piece to catch the squeeze out too. My last resort would be sanding. Always seems to take me forever to get rid of glue by sanding. I bought a 3 or 4 piece scraping kit from Woodcraft that came in a wooden box that I really like (the scrapper not the box..oh well the box too <g>). It seems a little more effective than the bulky awkward scrapper I got from the Borg.


Thanks Jerome! So the freud glue line rip blade will make the cuts more accurate so i can glue? I'll stop by the store to pick that up today. I'm most concerned about the gluing because the plywood I used to test the cuts dont seem to look too good when I put them together. There's an obvious line you can see as if it was two pieces of wood put together and not one big piece.

Also, is sanding gluing necessarily?

[Tony Truong]

Thanks everyone. I picked up the glue line rip blade. I also picked up a featherboard and a MicroJig GRR-Ripper holder. Hopefully those will help the panels rip straight gluable edges.

I looked at a few samples of sleds but I have a tiny portable dewalt tablesaw. Not sure I can do a sled concept?.

[Jerome Hanby]

201336

Feather-boards are always helpful. The sled I was talking about for the table saw can be pretty simple. Above is a picture I found online... Of course that one couldn't do double duty with the planner.




Thanks everyone. I picked up the glue line rip blade. I also picked up a featherboard and a MicroJig GRR-Ripper holder. Hopefully those will help the panels rip straight gluable edges.

I looked at a few samples of sleds but I have a tiny portable dewalt tablesaw. Not sure I can do a sled concept?.

[Tony Truong]

Darn the featherboard I got is magnetic and my saw isn't..

For the sled, is it helpful for making straight rip cuts?

[Bill Huber]

Darn the featherboard I got is magnetic and my saw isn't..

For the sled, is it helpful for making straight rip cuts?

Tony, is your wood planned on the side or just the top?

[Neil Brooks]

I looked at a few samples of sleds but I have a tiny portable dewalt tablesaw. Not sure I can do a sled concept?.

My (small) Bosch 4100 is under there ... somewhere. I promise :)

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9v-IXhMqvng/Su-nxx8MTWI/AAAAAAAAAL8/58ISTnPNESU/s576/Crosscut_Sled_Big_3_110209.JPG

[Tony Truong]

Tony, is your wood planned on the side or just the top?

It's smooth on the faces, line ripped on one edge and rough on the other. Not sure if it's planed.

[Bill Huber]

It's smooth on the faces, line ripped on one edge and rough on the other. Not sure if it's planed.

So you have one edge that you can use on the rip fence of the table saw, if that is correct then you do not need a sled, just start with that.

[Tony Truong]

My (small) Bosch 4100 is under there ... somewhere. I promise :)

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9v-IXhMqvng/Su-nxx8MTWI/AAAAAAAAAL8/58ISTnPNESU/s576/Crosscut_Sled_Big_3_110209.JPG

Does this setup work for for ripping boards as 10'?

[Bill Huber]

Does this setup work for for ripping boards as 10'?

That is a cross cut sled he is showing for his Bosch.

[Tony Truong]

Nice! Thanks for all the pics. I'm gonna build a crosscut sled and a planer sled since I don't have a joiner :)

[Tony Truong]

My (small) Bosch 4100 is under there ... somewhere. I promise :)

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9v-IXhMqvng/Su-nxx8MTWI/AAAAAAAAAL8/58ISTnPNESU/s576/Crosscut_Sled_Big_3_110209.JPG

Hi Neil, Quick question about your sled. Does the blade cut it totally in half and its held together only by the front and rear blocks? How tall are the blocks?

[Neil Brooks]

Ayup. You run the blade right through, front to rear, leaving your two fences to support the structure.

You can make your fences as tall as you like, practically speaking. Mine are probably 3-1/2" high, but ... I'd probably go higher, next time around.

They're called crosscut sleds. If you Google around, you'll find LOTS of plans and lots of shop-built versions.

Also a thing called a Dubby Sled -- the Lexus of crosscut sleds.

IIRC, the Woodsmith Shop guys have a very good plan for one.

If you build one, and get it 90* square to your blade, you'll have an *extremely* useful jig !

[Neil Brooks]

Thanks, Bill, for making that clear.

Tony: with your crosscut sled (and a roller stand or three), you can crosscut a board of any length, as long as it will fit into your shop, and you can adequately support the weight, all the way through the cut.

But ... yeah ... a planer sled is a different animal, and ... again ... plans are easily found :)

[Jerome Hanby]

It's useful for getting that first straight edge that you can run against the table saw fence. You probably want to do whatever you need to to get a flat face to lay flat on the sled.


Darn the featherboard I got is magnetic and my saw isn't..

For the sled, is it helpful for making straight rip cuts?

[Forrest Bonner]

Alternating cuts like Bill suggests will work BUT you must be careful at glue up since the slightly angled edges will want to ride up when clamp pressure is applied. So it is important to use cauls as Bill said when you use this technique.
Forrest

[Tony Truong]

Alternating cuts like Bill suggests will work BUT you must be careful at glue up since the slightly angled edges will want to ride up when clamp pressure is applied. So it is important to use cauls as Bill said when you use this technique.
Forrest

Thanks for the additional tip!

I just made my crosscut sled. Hope its big enough. It's 36"x27". Fits my portable dewat nicely. I also tested the planer out.. Pretty nice! And I just ordered the ridgid jointer too. That comes today. Real excited to get this project going.

[Tony Truong]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your help! I just finished my first project and installed the tank on the cabinet.

204403

Looking forward to my second project :)

[Bill ThompsonNM]

Nice work! A heavy tank like that will test your construction skills!

[Jerome Hanby]

Nice job! That walnut had some cool grain.

[Prashun Patel]

Nice job. Look forward to seeing more from you!

[Peter Stahl]

Tony, really nice cabinet you made! How big is the fish tank? Amazing how heavy they are with water in them huh.

[Terry Beadle]

A little off topic, but I need to replace the lighting system on my 55 gal. Is that a LED system you are using or is that some kind of light stuck to the left side of you tank? A light diffused lamp?

Nice stand ! Great tank too !

[Tony Truong]

A little off topic, but I need to replace the lighting system on my 55 gal. Is that a LED system you are using or is that some kind of light stuck to the left side of you tank? A light diffused lamp?

Nice stand ! Great tank too !

Hi,

Yes it's an LED. They're a little expensive but the best LED for an aquarium reef system. AquaIlluminations Sol Blue: http://aquaillumination.com/