I need to glue-up two boards that will be wider than my 8 inch jointer. Here is what I was thinking for doing this, was hoping to get some feedback.
1. Joint the boards prior to glue-up so I have one flat face and one 90 degree edge (glue edge).
2. Glue-up the boards, making sure that the jointed faces are on the same side and that they are flush.
3. Once dry, take the glued up board to my planer and make the other, now glued-up face, flat and parallel.
I have never seen this process done. Is there any reason not to try it? Only other option is to joint and plane both sides before glue-up.
Replies
Sure, you can do that. I usually thickness plane first, slightly thicker, then glue up. I only need to clean up the glue line after.
I'm with JC2 for planing over-thick before gluing. When you glue it up you'll have both faces available to reference while you're making adjustments. You'll also be able to use cauls, wedges, and clamps across the joint line since both faces should match.
That certainly works and I do the same.
If the unjointed face has a lot of twists or cupping you may want to plane it a bit so you aren’t struggling getting the jointed faces flush. Maybe not an issue if the boards are only a couple of feet long.
Mike
Thanks for the advice. The boards will be a bit over 70” long. I may attempt a spring joint.
I do this all the time, and I suspect everyone else does. At the Furniture Institute of Massachusetts, they had a 22-inch jointer. So you could take a normal board of say 10 inches and joint it and another the same size. Then plane the opposite face so that the boards are the same thickness, but still oversize. Then do your glue up. And here's the difference: instead of planing the glue up to get even surfaces, go back to the huge jointer and get a real reference surface. The planer isn't the same unless your glue up is exact--a planer requires a totally flat reference surface on the bottom, but a jointer doesn't and will produce a true flat surface. Anything else and the result may be a board that's not exactly flat and parallel.
However, at home my jointer is 8 inches so I do it the cheater way.
I don't use anything wider than 6".
More stable that way.
If I have a wider board, I rip it in half, turn one half
around to alter the grain and glue it back together
after jointing & planing it.
In that situation, I reflatten with a handplane prior to running it through the planer.
My rule for panels: keep them as big as possible as long as possible.
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