Straight boards without a planer or jointer

[rnelson0]

Your ID doesnt indicate where in the country you are. If you let the folks here know where you live I am sure you can get many reccomendations where to go to get good wood.

I live in Richmond, VA (Midlothian to be precise)

Lastly, if you are at all unsure about anything, do keep asking questions here. And make sure you know all the safety stuff. (Sorry for sounding like a mother hen. I just can't get that face-jointing-with-a-table-saw image out of my mind. )

Honestly, I do know my safety, which is why I asked that. I just left out the part where I chop it into smaller sections My father and I used to do simple projects (sandbox, skateboard ramp, etc.) when I was growing up and all we had was a circular saw, orbital sander, and a drill. He did teach me how to be safe on any tool, though, and I still follow those rules. Most importantly, if I don't know what the **** I'm doing, I stop and figure it out. I like my fingers!

Thanks.

[ironhat]

I can't add much (except that my sister lives within spitting distance of you) and a link to this edge jointing tool. It's like the one previously posted but a bit more economical and a good picture for reference. You can see the straight and square piece of what appears to be melamine to which the clamps are attached. Anyway, good info throughout this thread. Although Anna describes herself as a newbie it is clear that she has a good grasp of how to get things done. Building shop cabs and shelves will teach you more than can be described in one thread. One last thing, start a 'spare change' savings can for a jointer and then a planer. Your possibilities and possibly your capabilities will take a quantum leap.

[poolhound]

A couple of simple jigs will let you joint and surface plane.

I think the plans for the first one were posted earlier but there is an article on the same site that shows how to build one. its very easy.

http://www.newwoodworker.com/tsjointjig.html

If you have a miter slot on you TS the you can also make a simple jointing sled that runs in the slot.

For surface jointing and planing there are lots of variations on jigs that you can use with your router. here are a couple. They dont take long to make and they work.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home...p/1274411.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=CYy...qcYY#PPA154,M1

[rnelson0]

One last thing, start a 'spare change' savings can for a jointer and then a planer. Your possibilities and possibly your capabilities will take a quantum leap.

It's not so much a money issue as a space issue. I have a corner of a two car garage. Unless I can convince my wife to let me build a proper two car garage that only holds cars adjuting the house and turn this one into a shop, my space is limited.

...and the odds on that pretty much insure that my space is going to stay limited until we move

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home...p/1274411.html

This one makes the most sense to me. I just don't know where to get all the straight wood I'll need to make the jig

Thanks for the tips everyone! I think I've learned a lot, now I just need to purchase some lumber to practice with.

[ironhat]

[quote=rnelson0;326075]<snip>

This one makes the most sense to me. I just don't know where to get all the straight wood I'll need to make the jig

<snip>quote]

Find yourself a *good* lumbar yard with offers milling services. You can buy your project wood and have them surface the wood to thickness and joint at least one edge. Good luck.

[cbrown]

This one makes the most sense to me. I just don't know where to get all the straight wood I'll need to make the jig

Especially for making jigs, MDF is your friend (also Baltic birch plywood, though you won't find it at Home Depot) because it stays flat much more reliably than real wood.

I will say that I have not had so much trouble as you are having finding straight wood at HD or Lowes. It takes some searching and picking, but I have found straight softwood lumber and boards as well as their surfaced hardwood. Keep in mind that this gets trickier as you go to longer pieces, but also that boards are rarely uniformly warped--there may be 6' of straight and a crook on the last 2'. The 6' portion is still fine to use. Or there may be a twist in the middle but each end is usable. Remember too that even if you plane a cupped 1" board flat, it won't be 1" thick anymore when you're done with it

Chris

[JimD]

If the main criteria are cost and straight/square then plywood, waferboard, particle board, and Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) are all good choices. They will have straight edges and will tend to stay straight although you have to be more careful with plywood. Good plywood, baltic birch is best, is good but the worst stuff can warp around.

Solid wood is stronger and this is important for wide shelves. Gluing on hardwood edging will help plywood. MDF is weakest.

I built several early pieces out of #2 softwood boards including several pieces we still use - because they are very functional. You can rip edges straight on the BT3100 if they are not too bad to start with. The boards do not have to be flat to work for many things but you may want to glue wider pieces together so that they straighten each other. Fastening somewhat warped pieces together into a drawer or cabinet or door also will reduce warping. The knots in #2 are the source of a lot of the warping which can be bad if you rip a board to width. Picking around knots helps. Segregating very knotty pieces to something like a raised panel in a door is a good strategy (the knots can be interesting in appearance) and using the stuff with the fewest and smallest (or no) knots for the frame of a door is almost a must.

Hardwood typically is sold with at least one face clear and tends to be straighter. You can make pieces with tighter clearances but that requires more accurate cutting too.

I have a jointer which also is a planner (an INCA 410) but I do not use the jointer to straighten a boards edge very often and I do not plane to eliminate warping hardly ever. I plane to get to the thickness I want. Warping I cut out or take out during assembly or live with.

Wood is a part of a tree and should not be expected to be real straight or flat. If that is a must, use something else. Part of learning to work with wood is learning to work around its tendency to be less than perfectly straight or flat - it's part of the charm.

Jim