Tabletop with large dimensional Red Maple

[Jim Coe]

I am planning on making a table using large dimensional Red Maple boards. I had a sawyer cut 4”x8”x14’ and a few 4”x6” and 4”x10” from a beautiful old tree with good figure. The boards have air cured for many years and are ready to join together. The boards are not perfectly straight nor square and my challenge is how to get an edge good enough to join to each other. [I haven’t found a jointer with a 28’ table and extensions with my floor are not good enough]. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to square the boards without taking them back to a sawmill for processing? Or should I forget trying to use single 14’ pieces and put it together using shorter lengths?

[eugene thomas]

What will be table final dimensions?

[cody michael]

before I had a jointer I used a piece of 2x2 steel stock pipe (square) put board to metal pipe, pipe to table saw fence and cut the outside edge enough to straighten, flip board put cut side to table saw, you now have 2 parallel sides. it worked ok.

you could probably use plywood etc to make a sled type setup? but with you wanting to use 4 inch thick boards this may not work unless you have a 12 inch saw.

[John TenEyck]

I would work to get the boards flat first, then run them through the planer to get both faces parallel. Then you can easily make a 14 foot straight edge out of plywood that you can clamp to the now flat boards and use a router to trim one edge straight and true. Then run them through the TS to get the other edge parallel. Put the boards together to see how they fit, and then adjust as needed with the router/straightedge setup, or a hand plane.

John

[Jim Coe]

What will be table final dimensions?

Looking for finished dimensions to be 13' long [maybe 12'6"] with a width of 42".

[Ted Calver]

A router sled would work to flatten one side. Then you could flip it and make the other side parallel using the same set up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-JwkF1FwpM

[Jim Coe]

A router sled would be a good solution--each board is 100+ lbs. It would take some time, but anything worth while usually does.

[Mel Fulks]

I would do them on a jointer. Doesn't have to be a giant machine if it is adjusted right and you have a good helper; or a skilled friend and you as helper. Not saying the other methods won't work,too. What you are describing sounds like a refectory
table, if you look at photos of them many are put together with tongue and groove not glued and have battens. With a top that thick
glued it is easy for normal drying or "compression ring set" to make the joints open some or even come apart. Especially
with air dried wood. You lessen the chance of that by removing about an 1/8 inch from at least one third of the thickness.
that lets the outside shrink some. And not having heard that before does not mean it won't work. I have used it. Not unusual
to see stair rail glued in two pieces open up some ,and they are much smaller than what the table will be. I've seen large
turnings glued up from eight quarter kiln dried maple open some soon after turning. But beyond that a tongue and groove
construction with large beads between them would make something obviously made of thick wood. Most people seeing a thick glued up top pretty much assume a table with a thick top is veneer over particle board.

[Peter Quinn]

I guess it depends on your goals and your level of ambition. You could do it with hand planes and winding sticks, I think a router and rails like Ted posted above would work, with a good helper and a few roller stands and shims you could probably do better than you think. Assuming you have the capacity to move these beams (which essentially they are) I wouldn't rule out having them surface at a millwork shop. Place I used to work sold wood, had a very large jointer, we flattened material for local craftspeople, professionals and hobbyists alike, all the time. Even on a very big jointer flattening those lengths is going to be a challenge, probably a three person job, one fore, one aft, one who stays in the middle. I like Mel's suggestion to shave 1/8" off each face, thats tough to do with hand planes but not impossible. The only idea I don't like is cutting the beams shorter, sort of defeats the impact of the large chunks of wood.

No matter how you do it, make sure to build the gantry first to move it around.....a 16/4 maple table 13 feet long and 42 inches wide is going to be very heavy!