Face jointing wide boards

[Greg Caputo]

I've recently scored some great rough-sawn cherry. Some of the boards are more than a foot wide. Many are 7 to 10 inches. My jointer is 6 inches wide. I really don't want to rip and reglue in order to face joint these boards. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Greg

[nick brigg]

www.woodworking.org (http://www.woodworking.org) -- topic 8904 - try this on for size

[Greg Cuetara]

Another option is to use a planer sled. Do a search as there have been a few recent threads on this topic. Basically you would make a sled which you put the wood on and then you shim your wood so that it does not move and then run it through the planer which will give you one flat face...then take it off the sled and run it through the planer to thickness the stock. Guess this all is assuming that you have a wide enough planer....good luck

[Tom Jones III]

Sorry for the blasphemy, but when I need to face joint just a few boards that are wider than my jointer then I do it with hand planes.

[Jim Becker]

Sorry for the blasphemy, but when I need to face joint just a few boards that are wider than my jointer then I do it with hand planes.

Not blasphemy, Tom. It's just one technique of many available...and that's one of the neat things about this woodworking thing we all love to do! So many choices!
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Greg, I think that the router bridge method offers the most flexibility since you're not limited to the width of a planer as you are with a sled. This is how many sources of large, natural edge slabs do the job. But a sled can be a handy tool if you think you are going to routinely need to flatten wider boards (you are! ;) ) than your 6" jointer can handle. Therefore, consider getting set up for both methods (both are cheap) as well as learning some Neander techniques. The latter is a good idea because frankly, on one-offs, you can often have the job done before you'd be done with just the setup for a sled or router bridge...

[Greg Caputo]

Thank you all! Great ideas here. This forum is great.

Greg

[Greg Cole]

Greg,
I second Tom's suggestion.... just use caution on the top of the slope if you don't have any "Neander" tools. One litte peek over the edge and down I went... or still sliding I should say.
Planer sled & router bridge are good ideas, but time consuming if you are using it for one off's or once in a great while. Not too mention they'll eat up space on a wall or where ever between uses.
My other suggestion is to get a jointer that is the same size as the planer. Might not be something for today or tomorrow, but worth consideration if the rest of the shop is "tooled up". I have an 8" Grizz, but also have a cabinet that is running shy on space for hand planes.......:D

Greg

[Craig D Peltier]

You can take your guard off an joint the 6" and hand plane the rest also.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Greg

You may want to look at this thread:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=53423

Grant
Ottawa ON

[glenn bradley]

Many are 7 to 10 inches. My jointer is 6 inches wide. I really don't want to rip and reglue in order to face joint these boards. Any suggestions?

I've learned to love this thing really quick (6" jointer here as well).

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=58735