Joining boards

[Phil_S]

I'm about to pull the trigger on getting some real wood (walnut), not that big box store crappy pine, to make a furniture grade head box. This means ramping up the know how. I'm hoping one (or more) of you master wood workers here can answer my question about the best thing to do to join 2 narrow boards to make one wide board. This is something I've never done.

I understand that I need to make the boards 4 square. Let's assume I can do that.

On youtube, I see guys who just glue the two edges together and clamp. Is that really adequate? Or do I need something better to create a joint? I'm not looking to get too fancy, but I don't want it to fall apart either.

Thanks for any advice you may have to offer.

Phil

[telentubes]

Edge gluing is the best way, providing the joint is full contact throughout. Joining the two boards can be challenging without the proper tools. Finding someone with a sharp, dialed in, joiner would make the job easier.
You have to be careful lining up the two sides when gluing (glue is slippery until it sets). Distribute clamp pressure evenly.
You will have to dress the two surfaces after the glue dries. Again, perfectly doable with hand tools, but easy with a planer or thickness sander.
If you start with your boards a little thicker than where you want to end up, that will give you extra dimension to work with when dressing.

[dorrisant]

Not a master carpenter here, but a biscuit joiner makes for a super strong joint and is pretty easy to use.

[Phil_S]

Thanks, guys. I don't have a "bisquick joinah" so I won't be going that route. I'll try simple edge joining on some pine or douglas fir I've got lying around. I need to buy more clamps! Now I know why these guys on youtube seem to have an inexhaustible supply of clamps.

I am thinking if the lumber is 4 square and I glue on a flat table, I've got a fighting chance!

[cbass]

You can do a router table jointer. https://youtu.be/9lheWuf1Bzk
Pipe clamps are the way to go .
You can find old craftsman jointers for cheap. New knives and bearings should be under 50 bucks

[Phil_S]

Cbass, Nice trick with the router. I like it! Thanks. I'll have to build that router table I've been blowing off.

I bought myself a Dewalt DW745 saw. What do you think about this technique? I find this guy mildly amusing, but seems to have some interesting ideas. This one covers jointing and clamping, cheap and effective. I think I'm on my own with planing to flat! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZMeXclJHY8

For making board flat, I really like this guy. He does it all by hand. Sorry, this is a long one. I've done this with a small piece of Douglass fir and was fairly amazed at how good it turned out, but that's a soft wood and it was about 15" long. (I've got a #4 and a #5 plane. I am wishing for a #5 1/2 jack plane!) Still good practice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m231_HKCOWs

I blew off the Walnut. I'm shopping one eBait and some yo-yo decided to compete for the wood, raising the price above $5/board ft including shipping. I'm not going to pay that for wood I have to buy based on picture. Instead, I bought some Cherry boards today, $4.00/board ft including shipping. It should arrive on Friday. If the project goes south, I won't feel too bad. I got a little over 8 board feet, 7/8" thick, makes about 9.1 sq ft surface area. I should only need about half of the material to make a head box roughly 20" x 10" x 9.5". Even if I plane it to 5/8" thick, that should be more than adequate for a head box. Anything special I ought to know about working with Cherry?

[telentubes]

Good way to join. Wedges can provide a LOT of pressure.
Not as easy as walnut, but cherry works like a dream with sharp tools.

[Phil_S]

It's good to have confirmation on the wedges. I've got a brand new Freud LU series blade in the saw, so I should be good to go!

BTW, weirdness on the eBait auction for the walnut. The zero FB numbnuts who outbid me retracted his bid after goading me to increase my maximum by $1 so once again I am high bidder. Eight hours to go. Maybe I'll get the walnut, too. We'll see.

I'll rant about eBait now. After being outbid, I left that auction behind and bought something else, as a direct result of being outbid. They shouldn't be allowed to once again make me high bidder without my consent. I think the seller should be required to either get consent from the next highest bidder or cancel the auction if he can't get any lower bidder to consent. Just my 2¢ and thanks for listening.

Edit: Well, someone did me a favor and bit on the walnut. The cherry has been shipped!

[Geeze]

Hi Phil,

Welcome to the wild and wooly world of figured wood - you are doomed my friend!

I have had lots of success by trimming to usable length [plus an inch] running the 7/8" thick planks through a table saw with carbide blade and multiple feather boards to control the sideways drift. Glue up on a flat surface and lots of clamps and rig up bow clamps to force the center down and / or LOTS of weight. I run the joined planks through a drum sander to level / smooth them and then off to the building I go.

It really works well when joining contrasting woods as any slight voids I fill with devcon clear epoxy and they go away from sight. I've dadoed 'em and biscuited 'em and being the opportunistic cockroach [some deem it lazy] I ain't gonna do that no more. I've not had issues on numerous 1936 2x12's with the carry handle on top using Titebond II & III.


http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u119 ... gkldza.jpg

Russ

[Phil_S]

Hey Russ! Thanks for the encouragement and the tips. (And thanks to everyone else, too!) The boards are supposed to be 44.5" long and range between 4 5/8" to 4 7/8" wide, plus on that is 6" wide. I am convinced there is plenty of wood to work with, but I am also figuring there will be waste...general cutting waste and waste from lack of experience. I still expect to get this done with enough left over for something else.

In a perfect world, I can build it with the 3 narrower boards if I steal 2x 1" strips from one of the wider boards. This will not leave over enough for a full 2nd try, but there will be some backup. Now, I"m really wishing the boards were 5" wide <sigh>. I am not imagining it will go quite that well. We'll see!

[strelok]

These long reach c-clamps look like they'd be really useful for this sorta thing if some of the wood has a bow to it along the joint. The ability to reach in and apply clamping pressure from that direction seems like it would be really helpful. Only problem is making them seems almost more involved than building a cabinet. Though it might give you some ideas. Here's a couple videos on how to make them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U7ufIyBaos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhqKVvZTdtc

[Geeze]

Or what I call bow clamps. A stiff cross piece supported by 'feet' on the glued up planks pulled into a bow shape by clamps on the ends of the cross piece.

Russ

[Phil_S]

The wood arrived today, 2 days earlier than expected, thank you UPS. Most of it is nearly 1" thick, and all are over 7/8". One is clearly bowed, most of the others exhibit some bow from end to end. They seem to be fairly straight, but not perfect. They been put through a planer and show a little bit of snipe, but the good news is they are mostly flat. Edges area all rough cut, IMO that's better than finish cut that isn't good enough. All boards are the same length, just shy of 45".

I"ll be needing to join them to make two 9.5" x 20" and two 9.5" x 10". I have questions about how to approach this. Let's assume for now that I can make a competent joint seam that is hard to see.

I'll be planing them by hand (mostly) to remove the cupping. I might rig up the router sled, but the cupping (except one board) doesn't look like i should do that.

Should I cut to rough length, then join, then plane? Or should I join the boards full length?

[Geeze]

Having worked with raw [full] length and cut to size - definitely cut it before you join it. The wood will squirm and you have less to pay attention to. Then beat them [plane] into useable form.

Remember the ART of woodworking is not perfection but the ARTful fixes of the inevitable f*ckups.

Russ

[Phil_S]

Russ:
Got it! I think this changes the layout plan somewhat. It will also reduce the amount of planing. Cutting the bow in half should flatten it somewhat. Time to build the crosscut sled. Really, I just got the saw. Thanks for the help!
Phil