jointing with no jointer

[mark sherman]

Any tips on jointing large glued up slabs with no jointer. They're close but roughly 14" wide so no flex. Three glued to make roughly 41" wide slab. I'd probably need a huge jointer even if I had one because they are almost eight feet long and quite heavy. Any reasonable way with cabinet saw or router?
Thanks for any tips.

[Dewey Torres]

Most folks who build their own workbench tops are faced with this dilemma.
The set up requires a router attached to a jig which rides on two carefully placed rails.

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=58

Above is just one example but you could do a search for router rails, flattening and get more.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Lots of fine craftsmen use the table saw cut for edge jointing. If the saw is good and the blade will yield a clean edge many people believe that surface to be better than a jointed edge for glue adhesion.

If your saw won't give you a good joint-worthy edge you can build a small scale jointer into a router table set up by off-setting the fence on one side of the cutter by a few thousandtchs Lots of folks will double sticky tape a playing card for the off set.

Or you can use a hand plane. If you are not happy with you planing skills set the plane up like a shooting board. Lay the plane on edge square to your bench clamp it down and shove your board across that.

[Andrew Joiner]

I would glue them up so all the faces are flush. Scrape most of the glue off before it dries hard. Belt sand or use a cabinet scraper when the glue is hard. Hand sand or RO to final finish.

The edges are best done on the table saw or a portable circular saw with a straight edge guide,before you sand to final finish.

I agree with Cliff, a good blade on a saw will give a great straight edge,and no chip out like a knife will sometimes leave.

[glenn bradley]

Dewey's got your solution for the face. Edges can be handled with a straight edge and a straight bit in a router. You don't mention how thick these are but I did part of my 3" bench edges by guiding the router with a straight edge. I then flipped the top and used a flush bit to dress the remainder of the edge height to the prepared portion.

[Joe Scharle]

I hate jointers, and have done so for 50 years! Since my first spiral bit purchase, I've been edge jointing with a router and straight edge. I've got an 8' JointAbility now but used to used a piece of 1.5" piece of tubular steel.

[mark sherman]

Yeah I like it all. Kind of what I was thinking. Somebody asked, doors are 2.5" thick.
Thanks for the help.

[scott spencer]

It's easy to edge joint with a TS or router. Face jointing can be done with a planer sled on a wide planer, and also with a jointer plane.

[Steve Jenkins]

You don't say where you are but there are a lot of us spread around with wide jointers. All the above solutions will work just fine.