milling tongue and grooves

[Jeff Bartley]

I have a couple hundred feet of tongue and groove to mill for a project and I thought it would be interesting to hear how others like to mill these. I know how I'd like to do this job but I don't own a shaper. I've cut these joints a few different ways in the past and can't make up my mind how I'd like to do it this time as there's a lot more material involved than in past projects and speed counts. Thoughts or suggestions?
The more I think about this the same question keeps popping into my brain: why don't I own a shaper???

[Jim Andrew]

I bought the Grizzly 3hp shaper and 1hp power feeder a year ago Christmas. Made some flooring for a buddy, it worked like a dream, and we used MLCS cutters. The slow speed seems really fast, but you are able to keep up with handling the boards, and no bad chip-outs. The floor turned out great too.

[Chris Fournier]

If you own a TS and a good stacking dado this is easy.

The groove of course is straight forward with the dado cutter.

The tongue isn't much harder, simply mill some wood down to the thickness of the groove plus the allowance required for the carbide teeth/plate clearance X2 (a little experimenting will help you come up with the allowance). Now cut a 5/8" + arbor hole and cut a concentric circle, say 3" in diameter on the same centre and you have a dado spacer. Make sure that the two outside dado blades are cutting the faces of the piece and you have a tongue with a clean shoulder. Depending on the thickness of the stock being treated you may have to add a couple of dado stack cutters/shims to each side to make it work.

I did this quite a bit when I was in a pinch, quick, cheap, and effective.

[Jeff Bartley]

Thanks for the replies; Jim, I sure wish I was doing this with a shaper but that's not in the budget right now. Chris, that's the answer I was hoping to hear. I had thought about that exact plan but hoped someone would report good results. Did you have any issues with the edges left by the stack cutters on the edge? Even if so this shouldn't be an issue as a bead will be milled onto the tongue show-side.
Incidentally, this mill work is for a kitchen; bead-board for the back-splash and beaded board and batten doors which will have the batten let into the doors with a taper-sliding dovetail. Milk paint and maple counters will finish it out.

[Erik Loza]

Jeff, what about just subbing the job out? Might make more sense if you do not have need for a shaper on a steady basis.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Jeff Bartley]

I think if the job was much bigger it might make sense to sub it out. I'll be happy as long as I can cut each side in one pass, similar to the way it would be cut on a shaper. It's actually hard to believe that I didn't use this as an excuse to pick up a used shaper!! But alas, a shaper is lower on the list than a bigger bandsaw and a bigger planer.......I'm still dreaming of a used MM16.....know of any for sale Eric?? ;-)

[Erik Loza]

Ha, Jeff! I hear you. Shoot me a PM if you're interested.

best,

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Stephen Cherry]

I like the idea of the dado also, but I would consider taking the time on the setup to add zero clearance inserts for both cutter configurations, and also a supplemental fence on the side of the normal fence. Plus a featherboard or two.

Anything to keep the board from becoming a projectile.

[Peter Quinn]

I'd get a slot cutter on a router, slot both sides of each board and mill slip splines to match. You can still toe nail them in as required, easy to do with a hand held router or good table. I'd personally set up one of my shapers......probably 2 actually so I could go from tongue to groove w/o putting down boards....but
That's probably not what you want to hear at this point?

[Chris Fournier]

Thanks for the replies; Jim, I sure wish I was doing this with a shaper but that's not in the budget right now. Chris, that's the answer I was hoping to hear. I had thought about that exact plan but hoped someone would report good results. Did you have any issues with the edges left by the stack cutters on the edge? Even if so this shouldn't be an issue as a bead will be milled onto the tongue show-side.
Incidentally, this mill work is for a kitchen; bead-board for the back-splash and beaded board and batten doors which will have the batten let into the doors with a taper-sliding dovetail. Milk paint and maple counters will finish it out.

Technique works well, clean cutting. I always use a zero clearance throat plate with a dado and featherboards for repetitive T&G work like this. Safety and quality are both served by doing this.

[Jeff Bartley]

Good call on the zero-clearance insert Stephen, they're so easy to make why not use one? And I'm definitely a big fan of the feather board....I'll use two for sure. Eric, I'm almost afraid to PM you; especially if you're gonna tell me about a good deal on a bandsaw.........

[Chris Fournier]

I'd get a slot cutter on a router, slot both sides of each board and mill slip splines to match. You can still toe nail them in as required, easy to do with a hand held router or good table. I'd personally set up one of my shapers......probably 2 actually so I could go from tongue to groove w/o putting down boards....but
That's probably not what you want to hear at this point?

I would do this for short runs or more likely joinery but not for the OP's job, too time consuming and nailing would likely fracture the pieces more than with an integral T&G. My thoughts.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

One way I have done this on a tablesaw is with a molding head. I have an older craftsman head which seem to be available used locally or on the bay frequently. New ones and cutters you can get from Corob Cutters. They aren't expensive and you can get a tongue and groove set designed to fit together. Use proper safety equipment in your set up and you will be amazed at the nice results!

[Jeff Bartley]

I just wanted to report back with results....it worked great. I made a spacer out of UHMW plastic that I had laying around and then tuned it in with shims like Chris recommended and the fit was perfect. I think if I was to do it again I'd make the spacer out of hardwood. I could see some slight wobble on the outside cutter. Now that I know the exact thickness of the spacer it would be really easy to mill one that didn't require additional spacers. I'll definitely use this method again!

[Chris Fournier]

I'm glad to hear this was successful for you. Next time will be even easier.