Jointing small pieces of wood.

[jseklund]

I have a slight issue. I have about a half dozen half done projects. Too bad for me that doesn't make 3 complete projects. Eh well. Anyway, I'm finsihing up the boarder on a cutting board I am making for the GF, and I realized that due to some various issues that led to me changing parts of the design on-the-fly, the pieces of the boarder are all a little too short now. The run is actually two pieces thick, and needs about an extra inch in length. It's an end-grain cutting board, so I figured I would just cut a couple of 2.5" pieces (which would be MORE than enough to fix the problem- but I like to give myself some wiggle room in case I have to make an extra, unexpected cut).

Well, wasn't thinking and cut up 8 2.5" pieces so that I could glue two together into one piece, and glue that piece onto the existing run. The problem is, now I have 8 2.5" pieces that are not flat enough to create a good butt joint. I'm normally pretty picky about these joints- if I put them together dry and see any light coming through, I redo it. I would be willing to have a LITTLE play with this on these pieces, but obviously I want to do it right.

So, my question is- how do I SAFELY joint these small pieces so they can be glued together? I'm at a loss. Obviously they won't go over a jointer, through a planer- and I am a little leary, even with push sticks, of trying to push these through a table saw (which I already tried, unsuccessfully).

Thanks again guys! I really need to get all these projects done so I can clean up my garage and get organised again.

[gwyneth]

This sounds like a hand planing job, or holding them briefly on a sander.

Or, you could tape them all together with the edges to be trimmed all facing the same way and rip the bundle.

[mpc]

Grab 'em one by one with twin-screw wood hand clamps. That'll give you a good grip on them and keep your hands plenty far away from whatever cutting tool you end up using.

Trimming them up on a "shooting board" with a sharp hand plane would be my first choice though; you wouldn't need to worry about the usual issues of holding small parts this way - no power tools/blades. Just clamp them to the shooting board's fence and have at it.

mpc

[gwyneth]

Another idea, if you have a BT, would be to use the SMT, clamping each to the SMT fence (be careful not to cut off the tip of the fence).

[RodKirby]

I made this about a squillion years ago - seen good service

[gwyneth]

Rod, that is beautiful. Is that a stop block thing at the end of the SMT fence that is missing from the breakdown shown in the last picture?

[RodKirby]

Rod, that is beautiful. Is that a stop block thing at the end of the SMT fence that is missing from the breakdown shown in the last picture?

No - It's the "notched" end of the plywood fence...

[jseklund]

Thanks for all the great responses!

Gwyneth and MPC- I was thinking of the hand plane, but these pieces are smallish and I will need to clamp the 1" thick end and plane the 2.5" long X 2" tall end. I was trying to figure out how to plane them. What is a "shooting board"? Is that what you do to people like me who don't have a clue what they're doing? haha. Seriously though- I've never heard of it.

Rod- That is an ingenius idea. That should be in a woodworking magazine if it isn't already- I am sure it could be addapted for just about any kind of miter/rip fence arrangement.

Thanks again guys, you are life savers! I've been kicking myself for the last 24 hours- I keep telling my gf, "I should have jointed and glued them together while they were long and then cut them into 2.5" pieces!"

Live and learn. I really appreciate the help. I will post pictures of all these things when I'm done.

[Tom Miller]

This is a shooting board:




And, I think it's the perfect tool for your job, assuming you have a decent plane that's good at slicing end grain.

Regards,
Tom

[gwyneth]

To expand on Tom's suggestion, the idea of the shooting board is that the bottom cleat is to keep the thing from slipping, and the rest is a board and a top cleat that are in known square to each other so that a piece of wood can be planed to 90 degrees.

Here is a lot of information about them, with theory, plans, etc.:

http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/shootingboards.html
Shooting Boards @ Cornish Workshop

[mpc]

What is a "shooting board"? Is that what you do to people like me who don't have a clue what they're doing? haha. Seriously though- I've never heard of it.

If that were the real definition, I'd have a couple at work to use on certain co-workers.

Rod- That is an ingenius idea. That should be in a woodworking magazine if it isn't already- I am sure it could be addapted for just about any kind of miter/rip fence arrangement.

Typical Rod. Always with terrific ideas that I'd never think of myself but look so obvious when I see them... and his work is always exquisitely finished too. A newbie to this site could learn a lot just looking at Rods posts; they should be required reading for woodworking rookies (like me)!

Thanks again guys, you are life savers! I've been kicking myself for the last 24 hours- I keep telling my gf, "I should have jointed and glued them together while they were long and then cut them into 2.5" pieces!"

Almost exactly what I said when doing a metalworking bending & welding project (gift for mom) with several supposedly identically bent pieces. Once I had 3 close-enough-to-identical ones it finally occurred to me how to do it right: cut the 3 parts longer than needed, lay them side-by-side and spot-weld the ends together... then bend them at the same time. One quick chop-saw on each end to toss the excess with the welds and I would have been done in 1/10th the time.

You might find it's worth "eating" the wood cost to start over on those parts with fresh wood... joined/glued and then cut. How long would that take? Price of the wood? Might be worth it compared to trying to save your "practice" pieces. A lesson I've finally learned myself... I'm a tightwad and hate wasting pieces like that but I've learned that sometimes it's worth it to start over rather than spending lots of time trying to salvage fifty cents worth of material. Use those practice pieces to experiment with finishing techniques.

mpc

[gwyneth]

Typical Rod. Always with terrific ideas that I'd never think of myself but look so obvious when I see them... and his work is always exquisitely finished too. A newbie to this site could learn a lot just looking at Rods posts; they should be required reading for woodworking rookies (like me)!

Even more valuable than the engineering brilliance are at least three other things Rod's projects and shop provide:

1. Reinforcing the idea that it isn't just the ends (sorry OP) that are important, but the means to those ends. (Also known as the journey is more important than the destination philosophy of life).

2. The level of craftsmanship and care the jigs and fixtures show us is inspirational. (Also known as the "I want my real projects to look as good as Rod's shop stuff" aspect.)

3. That if we're in a group with someone like Rod, maybe we're more capable than we might have thought. (Also known as the "My standards are getting higher" benefit).

[gary]

I wanted to give a different thought here from hard learned experience.

At some point we all make this kind of mistake and end up with some piece that may be too small to work safely with. We usually try and figure out how to work it safely as possible which may or not be really safe. I have one shorter finger due to this mentality.

I now include in my thinking if it's time to throw out that piece and start over with a bigger piece that can be worked safaly. Even if it means spending more money to do it. Wood is easier to replace than fingers (cheaper too).

[gwyneth]

Very well put, Gary.

Aside from the specifics of wood and danger which your sage reminder addresses, generally I've been noticing that part of Growing Up is thinking, I'm worth more than that piece of burnt toast, or that my time is worth more than what it would take to clean that solvent and use it again.

[RodKirby]

(See above).

Thank you for the kind words, gwyneth.