Glue Joint Question

[Brent Romero]

Evening Gents,

So, I jointed one edge of a board and used my table saw to rip the opposite edge. When I went to use the saw-cut edge, my joint was not as tight as I would have liked it.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

[Lee Schierer]

Don't try to force the joint together, it will probably fail in the long run. It sounds like your saw may not be properly aligned, or your jointed edge was not straight.

[Rick Fisher]

I always do glue joints on the Jointer.. First face against the fence, second face towards me .. never had much luck doing them on the TS ..

[scott spencer]

It's important that the board is straight and flat, and your TS insert needs to be flat and rigid. If your TS is running true and you have a decently smooth cutting blade, your joint should be excellent. Check your TS and blade runout. You don't need a blade that's labeled "Glue Line" rip blade to get a glue ready finish. Most good blades with 30 or more teeth will give you a glue ready edge, and even some of the better 24T will do.

[jim gossage]

What Scott said. If your TS is aligned correctly and you have a shatp blade, the jonts shouls be fine.

[Bob Wingard]

Evening Gents,

So, I jointed one edge of a board and used my table saw to rip the opposite edge. When I went to use the saw-cut edge, my joint was not as tight as I would have liked it.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

You have a jointer ... use it ... as you've already noted, it does a better job. Why would you NOT use it ???

[Brett Bobo]

+1 on Rick's tip using the jointer. Typically, whether it be for edge glue-ups or just final sizing of stock, I'll use the jointer to shave off a ~1/32" for a clean, square edge. You didn't mention if the gap was consistent over the thickness of the board or more so on one face as compared to the other, i.e. the gap is larger on one side than the other side. If it's the latter, the blade may be a degree or two out of square to the surface. Using the jointer, regardless of whether the fence is perfectly square or not, you can get tight joints by alternating (flipping over) the opposing face of every other board in your glue up against the jointer fence. It's simpler to show visually than to try explain but as long as you pay attention during the process, it's simple and gives you tight joints.

[Brent Romero]

Thanks guys. I will certainly try the jointer to see if it helps. I was under the impression that if you joint one edge you should never attempt to joint the other edge because it may have a tendency to make the two edges out of parallel. The gap was more pronounced in the center of the 31" board.

[Brett Bobo]

What was the time frame from when you ripped the edge in question (at the table saw) to when you noticed the gap during the dry assembly? If it was several days or even overnight between the two, it sounds like wood movement. In that case, it would have occurred with the jointer too. Also, what's the width of the material?

[Brent Romero]

I cannot tell a lie...the jointed edge was a few months ago and the table saw cut was this past weekend. I was also performing glue joints with some S4S lumber and did not have this issue.

Material width is ~11"....cypress.

Thanks

[Sam Murdoch]

Thanks guys. I will certainly try the jointer to see if it helps. I was under the impression that if you joint one edge you should never attempt to joint the other edge because it may have a tendency to make the two edges out of parallel. The gap was more pronounced in the center of the 31" board.

Being slightly out of parallel is not an issue especially when gluing up multiple boards as to create your 31" board. After the glue up - make the 2 edges parallel. Of course if you are featuring highly visible joints then you need to strive for perfection right at the start but with gluing up the same wood - hiding the joint is part of the challenge and out of parallel can actually be a help. And, yes, you created some issue with the time delay from one process to the other. Best to joint and glue - all in the same day. If you get movement with your entire glue up that can be corrected whenever you get to it for final sizing.