Hi, I’m new to this forum and I’m wondering if anyone can help me how to true solid wood when I don’t have a joiner. I’m planning to make cabinet doors by joining piece of wood that I have. I thought of the idea of using sandpaper on a flat surface and hopefully sanding the edges true. But this would take a very long time. and no guarantees of true edges for joining. Any suggestions??
Thanks for listening.
Replies
Hey Alan,
Welcome to the forum. What tools do you have, you may get a better response if we know your resources. My first question is do you have a table saw, hand plane or router. You can true up with any of these.
Enjoy, Roy
Hi Roy,
Thankyou for responding to my question. And Yes I do have all those tools that you have listed, Table saw, router and even an electric hand planer. If my hardwood boards just needs only a little truing, in order to get the faces parallel and without too much fuss. I would prefer that option. Unless there are other alternatives. Any suggestions?
Alan1
Alan,
Using the tools that you already have, there are a few options that you might try.
If you have a router table, and the fence is reliable (e.g. square, straight), stick a thin piece of laminate (or similar material) to it on the outfeed side. Move the fence so that the total amount that the bit is showing is equal to the thickness of the laminate. (This will take a little trial and error - practice on scrap first!) Once you're sure about the settings, edge joint a piece of your project wood (starting from the non-laminate side). Each pass will successively remove wood equal to the thickness of the laminate. This will only work if the stock is flat - without any cup, bow, or twist. Otherwise you'll have a beautifully refined, wavy edge!
A second option would be to build a jig for your electric hand planer, effectively turning it into a small bench top jointer.
Since you have a table saw, it might be easier and faster to build a jig that will allow you to cut a true edge. Start with a S4S piece of stock (...horse before the cart!). By mounting two hold-down toggle clamps onto the S4S, an unjointed board can be effectively held down and cut using the jig to ride along the fence. Woodcraft also sells a pre-made jig called Joint'R Clamp for ~$15.
If you'd like some recommendations on building a jig, or with any other question that might arise, please feel free to ask.
Dan Kornfeld, Owner/President - Odyssey Wood Design, Inc.
Edited 2/28/2003 11:46:18 PM ET by Jackie Chan
Alan,
I don't have a jointer either and each time I have to do what your facing it seems the conditions dictate different options and approaches. First, if your primary objective is to glue up boards for cabinets then the joint line between the boards is key. Sometimes fiddeling with the quality of that line is a lot easier than anything else. If the boards are not perfectly flat to each other, in many cases, sanding after glue up is easier.
In addition to Jackie's solutions I'll give you one more that was given to me but I have not tried: Temporarily tack the boards together and run your saw blade down the middle between the two boards...
I bought a 6' length of U-channel at the hardware store which I put against the fense and run one side the board, flip over, remove channel and runthe other side....get me damn close to a perfect joint most times. good luck
Hey Alan,
I've never built that jig that Jackie talked about (been meaning to, I will, I promise, but, so it goes). I used BG's system a couple of weeks ago (and many times), took a board I knew was straight, drywalled screwed it hanging over the edge and used that as the fence edge. Rough in to straight out. Works great.
My jointer needs adjusting so so bad.
Enjoy, Roy
View ImageIf you have a router, this book will tell you a variety of ways to ensure a straight edge. Even some ways to join wavy edges. Welcome to the forum.
" To the noble mind / Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind" - Wm Shakespeare, Hamlet, III,i,100
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled