Handling long boards on a jointer

[Jim Matthews]

I'm mainly a hand-tool user, but my mentor works mainly with power tools.

He came up with a bed extension for his jointer that seems simple enough to reproduce and breaks down for storage.
The infeed and outfeed tables are both spars of Oak that has been ripped lengthwise and folded like a book to set the grain in opposition.

These are jointed to get a straight edge that becomes the extension of each cast iron table.
They're mounted to angle iron ledges which are bolted into the cast iron at each end.

One bolt is fixed, the other is in a slot for adjustment.

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The spars are mounted to simple roller stands, with the rollers removed.
The infeed side has a removable guide to keep the board from sliding off as it's fed across the jointer.

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I thought this was clever, until I saw the bungee-loaded lawnmower wheel that keeps everything snug against the fence.

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Total cost for a dead flat, straight extension was about $30 USD.

I checked, and the five Sapele boards he's working on are lightly sprung in the center, and ready for glue up.

I suppose it could be longer if you've got the floor space.

I hate spending time making tools, but Dan is just the opposite.
When I'm feeling too clever and smug about my accomplishments,
I drop by his shop for a dose of clarity.

[Dave Zellers]

Awesome. I'll be stealing the wheel jig. Brilliant.

[Jerry Olexa]

Great idea...well done!

[Wade Lippman]

If it works for him, that is great. I'd bet against it being adequately flat to be helpful.

[glenn bradley]

Jointing long boards is all about stock support. Your material should be able to be moved through the path without any excessive muscling around or he-man downward pressure to get it to stay put. Dan has accomplished this in a very clever and workable way. Forcing material through a tool or trying to manhandle things to keep them true to the reference surface only results in inaccuracies and an unhappy woodworker. Thanks for sharing that.

[Mel Fulks]

Glad it's working for Jim ,and it is clever. But I see it the same way Wade does. In a commercial shop there are usually one or two guys who have a good feel for keeping the work flat on the table to help with long material, and some who can not learn that skill. Lacking help Jim's solution is good.

[Jim Matthews]

If it works for him, that is great. I'd bet against it being adequately flat to be helpful.

The boards jointed were eight footers. You can't see a gap between any of the joints - I checked.
The span of this assembly in nearly twenty feet. It could certainly handle something longer than 8 feet.

I'm not sure I want to take a bet from a Sabres fan, you've got so little to lose.

[Jim Matthews]

Glad it's working for Jim ,and it is clever. But I see it the same way Wade does. In a commercial shop there are usually one or two guys who have a good feel for keeping the work flat on the table to help with long material, and some who can not learn that skill. Lacking help Jim's solution is good.

I lay no claim to this technique - I don't even own a jointer.
Dan uses machine tools that aren't expensive and works on his own,
as do most of us in this hobby.

I thought the sprung bungie Lawnmower roller was downright clever.

[Pat Barry]

I checked, and the five Sapele boards he's working on are lightly sprung in the center, and ready for glue up.



How did the boards become sprung if its all very flat?

But then in your last post you say there are no gaps. Not sure I follow - either there are gaps or there aren't. Maybe I'm just not following along very well

[Mel Fulks]

Pat, I understand your point . I think "gaps" is negative and "sprung" positive....so all was well. Less than two thousandths of out feed table elevation can produce a sprung joint on eight foot boards, that's why I'd rather have a helper at the jointer and not depend on accuracy in a table extension.

[Dave Zellers]

Re sprung: I think he's referring to the Tommy MacDonald method of edge gluing.

[Pat Barry]

I thought a sprung joint had a small gap in the center so it was pulled closed with clamp pressure. I thought the reason for doing this had something to do with the boards drying rate and more shrinkage at the ends due to the exposure. The sprung joint minimizes the effect of the drying process. At least that's the way I remember it.

[Mel Fulks]

Yeah,Pat. Not everyone agrees its a good idea ,but your impression is certainly right. I just meant that Jim's word choice of "no gaps" meant there were no gaps at ends, and I was pointing out how difficult it is to get a table extension exactly right. But it sounds like the inventor did pretty well.

[Jim Matthews]

Perhaps I'm not using the correct terms to describe this, I don't use this method for longer boards in my shop.

Relative to the face against the fence, the jointed edge is perpendicular over an eight foot span without gaps when the boards are clamped together.
The aspect of this edge has a slight concavity in the center, so the boards have a narrower center than ends.

This is deliberate, as in the center of the pass the operator bears down slightly to take off a little more material.
When gluing up, the ends come into contact before the center of the boards are drawn together.

When clamped - there are no gaps that can be seen from above the assembly where the light is passed below.

I can get much the same result with my handplane - but not on this scale, so quickly.
This set up enables those of us with limited means, shop space or tooling to wring more performance out of reasonably priced gear.

I mean - come on - a lawn mower wheel tensioned by a sprung bungie cord? That's not something you see every day.

[Phil Thien]

As long as the tops of the extensions are coplanar with their respective tables, it should work great.

Getting them parallel to the top of the tables is actually pretty straightforward, and only requires a 12' long straight edge (gasp), or a piece of monofilament string and some gauge blocks.

[Mel Fulks]

If the extension itself is straight

[Phil Thien]

If the extension itself is straight

If your 4' jointer can straighten a 6' long board with ease (most say you can go 2x the length of the bed, but 1.5x is a certainty), you can straighten two of those, and now you can extend your jointer to 8' infeed and 8' outfeed.

Now you should be able to go 24' long without much difficulty.

Yes, it will take some time to setup. But when it comes to architectural work, it has been accomplished like this for decades.

[Wade Lippman]

If your 4' jointer can straighten a 6' long board with ease (most say you can go 2x the length of the bed, but 1.5x is a certainty), you can straighten two of those, and now you can extend your jointer to 8' infeed and 8' outfeed.

Now you should be able to go 24' long without much difficulty.

And then see how straight they are next week.

If I take a piece of lumber that was dry when I bought it and in my shop for a year, and mill it flat, it will not be flat in a week. Maybe you buy better lumber.

[Phil Thien]

And then see how straight they are next week.

If I take a piece of lumber that was dry when I bought it and in my shop for a year, and mill it flat, it will not be flat in a week. Maybe you buy better lumber.

I don't disagree with that. I think most of these setups are temporary, for one specific run. Next time you set it up, you'd probably want to joint the boards again.

[Mel Fulks]

Phil,I'm sure you are right and it can be done. There have been a number of threads here about troubles with adjusting tables ,tables several thousands dipped , jointer cuts concave ,jointer cuts convex. Small adjustments on jointers make big differences .I've worked in shops where new guy comes in and wants to rebuild jointer before getting out small s4s order. Management takes dim view as survey work and
string running was done before building was started and they expect employees to cooperate .My only objective here is to stress that a skilled helper is better than building something on company time that no one else is going to use ,and I have acknowledged the set up op brought to our attention could be useful to someone working alone. Most of the jointers in commercial shops I've worked in have beds 6 to 8 feet long and it's rare to get lumber over 16 feet long,so if jointer is set up accurately ,occasional help is the easiest way to get the work finished.

[Jeff Duncan]

Mel, I'm curious as to how you utilize a helper jointing long stock? I haven't tried it but seems like it would open up the possibilities of greater errors while jointing?

I've used several shop built extension tables over the years and it doesn't take much to get a decent extension to work well. I recently got tired of having too many extensions for different machines in the shop so bought a set of Aigner extensions which while not cheap, are incredibly helpful in a one man shop! The same 2 tables will work on any machine I need so instead of having multiple sets I now have just the 2. I have a short bed 16" so it comes in really handy on any stock longer than 8'.

As for the lawn mower wheel.....that's a new one to me, and I think I like it:rolleyes:

JeffD

[Mel Fulks]

Their job is to stand at end of out feed table ,hold on to end of the board and walk backwards ,not try to guess what needs to be done ,and by feel keep material solidly down. Since I am typically working with the bow down their job at the other end of machine is limited. As I said yesterday some are really good at keeping the material in perfect contact with machine. About a year ago I was a "guest" in a shop for a couple of days to make a piece of handrail. It was peculiar in having a ramp at one end and and easing at the other all MADE IN ONE PIECE. It took a wide piece of 12 quarter mahogany 16 feet long. I couldn't use the feeder and they had no spring hold down. But there was a guy there I had worked with years before who had a talent for feel of the work. We made a test run with the shaper off ,then ,with no fence or feeder shaped it. Of course ,he also helped face the work and band saw it. As I said yesterday,some just have a feel for this ,and some can not learn it. Without a good helper I would have insisted on improvising some kind of spring hold down.