Perfect jointing of 7+ foot boards

[drumpriest]

I have a stack of cherry and red oak for a couple of projects that I've got going on at the moment. Rockler was having a sale, so I bought some rather nice stuff fairly cheap. (3$ bf oak, 4$ bf cherry)

Trouble is that the cherry is "straight line ripped", which means crooked of course, and the oak was rough edged. I have the pelgrem benchtop jointer, and it serves me well for smaller pieces, but trying to joint a 7' board on it just isn't going to happen.

I went to HD today, and for 5$ bought a MDF shelf. Bullnosed on one side, and factory straight on the other, 8' long. So I just finished jointing 2 cherry boards of more than 7' by clamping the MDF down to it, and using a pattern bit to make the cut. I knew of this technique from wood works, but hadn't tried it, and I have to say that it works great! The resultant edges are glue-up ready, very nice. Truthfully, it was fast and easy as well, I think I'd prefer it to muscling the large pieces onto a larger jointer.

Just thought that I'd give a review of the technique.

[Russianwolf]

I'm one of the few that doesn't like using the router to edge joint. But I have used a similar technique on the Table saw. Clamp the board to the shelf and use the shelf edge against the fence. Much quicker.

[drumpriest]

Mike I could see using the TS for that, and they sell jigs for it, but I think you get less deflection from a nice heavy router bit than if you flinch slightly when passing it through a TS blade.

[charliex]

Thanks for the input Keith. I have a project comming up and I need to joint five 6ft pcs. of pine for a table top. I'll give the router/straight edge a try as I don't have a jointer and as of right now they don't fit tight.
Chas

[Ken Massingale]

I agree, Keith. I usually joint edges with the router instead of going to the jointer. To me it seems quicker and as you said, the edge is perfect.

[tmaceroli]

I don't have a jointer, so I prepare my edges on the TS. I have a home-built jig that I use, or if I'm just doing pine, I just run them against the regular fence. You can get a little bit of a blade mark, especially with long boards, if you flinch as you mention.

I was wondering, though. Would this be an operation that you can do on the router table with a straight bit? I guess you would either have to shim the outfeed side of the fence, or have a fence that adjusts independantly on both sides. Okay, so probably not a great idea.

So back to the router-straight edge operation, Unless I'm missing something, it would seem that this would work with wide boards only, unless you have a laminate trimmer type router, no? Allowing for the base of the router, it would seem that the board would have to be at least 7-8" wide for this to work. What am I missing?

[Ken Massingale]

I don't have a jointer, so I prepare my edges on the TS. I have a home-built jig that I use, or if I'm just doing pine, I just run them against the regular fence. You can get a little bit of a blade mark, especially with long boards, if you flinch as you mention.

I was wondering, though. Would this be an operation that you can do on the router table with a straight bit? I guess you would either have to shim the outfeed side of the fence, or have a fence that adjusts independantly on both sides. Okay, so probably not a great idea.

So back to the router-straight edge operation, Unless I'm missing something, it would seem that this would work with wide boards only, unless you have a laminate trimmer type router, no? Allowing for the base of the router, it would seem that the board would have to be at least 7-8" wide for this to work. What am I missing?

Tony,
You are correct on the router table solution, the outfeed fence is shimmed out about 1/16" for jointing.
For your question on doing this with a handheld router, you can lay another board of the same thickness behind the one you are routing to add surface for the router base.
See, you aren't missing anything!

[jziegler]

Keith,

I like the idea of this method and have no jointer at this point. You said that you used a pattern bit, so the MDF was on top. Is there any real advantage to either this or using a flush cut bit with the board on the top? Just curious, I have both types of bits, just wondering which would work best.

Jim

[DaveW]

Keith,

I like the idea of this method and have no jointer at this point. You said that you used a pattern bit, so the MDF was on top. Is there any real advantage to either this or using a flush cut bit with the board on the top? Just curious, I have both types of bits, just wondering which would work best.

Jim

I'm not Keith, but here's my (probably meaningless) $0.02 - I think it's just a matter of which bit you have, and since you have both, I'll say it's a matter of which you're more comfortable with. That said,...

If you have your pattern in between the router and the piece being jointed, you wouldn't risk any scuff marks on the piece being jointed from your router base... On the flip side, if you accidentally tip your router, I can see it gouging out your work piece, whereas if your pattern is on the bottom, tipping out shouldn't damage your work piece.

[Tom Miller]

I like the pattern (melamine shelf) on the bottom, too, with a flush-trim (bearing on bottom) bit.

Also, I find I get the best results by using a climb cut first, to get most of the material off. Then, I follow up with a quick (i.e. don't go to slow or you'll burn) final pass in the "right" direction. This will avoid any possibility of major tearout, too.

This is all with a handheld router, and not on the table, just in case that's not obvious. Another caveat: some folks warn against climb cutting, so be sure you know what you're doing.

Regards,
Tom

[jarhead]

...Also, I find I get the best results by using a climb cut first, to get most of the material off. Then, I follow up with a quick (i.e. don't go to slow or you'll burn) final pass in the "right" direction. This will avoid any possibility of major tearout...

Yep, this is also discussed in the current issue of Wood Magazine on page 16.

[drumpriest]

I don't have much of a preference between a pattern or flush trim bit for this application. It mostly depends upon the stock. The boards that I'm trimming are about 9 1/2" wide. The weight of the shelf on top keeps them stable while I set things up. For thinner stock, I'd definately use a flush trim, so that it'll sit on top of the wide shelf material.

I did the first 2 stages of the glue-up, and the joints are nice. I'm happy with it. The last stage will be tonight, and then I'll post some images.

After my last stage (this is a desk top), I'll need to joint one edge of the entire top, and to do that you'd NEED to use a pattern bit, as the top is 26+ inches wide.