4 hours ago, Marv Rall said:

I use a 10" b10' piece of bb for this task. First set the bb to rip a straight edge----a bit crude but I attach the bb with a 3/4" staples--close to the end of the board---proceed to rip new edge----now remove bb and remove staples-----set bb back from new edge to accommodate router with good straight  router bit--end result is a quality straight edge ----remove bb, remove staples--the only negative would be tiny staple holes at the very end of the board

Hey Marv, great to see you posting up again. Glad you're here!

3 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

I can do 8' long boards on my Jet 8" using roller stands; one on each end of the jointer. The Jet only has a 66" table, I think it would be a little easier with the PM. When I say I can do it, it's not fun and is a bit of a struggle and I find the jointing (edge) harder to do than the face flattening.

Thanks, I have a couple of roller stands, but they are not very good. I think I'll make an out feed table for it. For me the last bit if the front is over hanging the table very far get a bit light.

 

JT

20 hours ago, steven newman said:

Go Old School, maybe?

 

I have 3 Stanley #5 planes but no #7. that would be a lot of work to smooth the face of an 8" x 8.5' piece of white oak especially if you don't have a proper wood working bench handy. I do have some flat socket head screws in my 1" steel work table as a planing stop.

 

JT

21 hours ago, DAB said:

don't joint them until you need them?

 

i only have a little jointer, rarely used, and mostly use the TS for truing up a wavy edge.

I true up the face first then the edge. I use my #5 to take off any high spots on the face before passing the board over the jointer. I end up with a lot of shorter boards as I process the stack removing any firewood that is in there.

 

JT

47 minutes ago, 4DThinker said:

I'll vote for leaving the boards until you know what you are making with them.

Yes!

53 minutes ago, 4DThinker said:

I'll vote for leaving the boards until you know what you are making with them.  Far easier to joint the face or edge of 4' or 3' long boards. 

For all the years I taught furniture design it was rare that any project needed boards longer than 5'. Of course there was one kid that made a cantilevered desk top that was 10' long solid walnut 1.75" thick.  BTW it didn't turn out very well and the kid eventually cut the top in half after he realized he had no place for it where he lived, and even his parents didn't want such a beast. 

 

agree.

 

most homes have 8 foot ceilings, so it's rare to make something taller than that.  most furniture is people sized, can be moved by one or two people, and is in scale with the size of people.  it's nice to have a long board so you can pick out the portion you like best, or avoid the crummy portions, but it's rare to make something that is 8 or more feet long with one continuous board.  and even then, you can design things so you don't have 8 foot boards as part of the project.

50 minutes ago, DAB said:

 

agree.

 

most homes have 8 foot ceilings, so it's rare to make something taller than that.  most furniture is people sized, can be moved by one or two people, and is in scale with the size of people.  it's nice to have a long board so you can pick out the portion you like best, or avoid the crummy portions, but it's rare to make something that is 8 or more feet long with one continuous board.  and even then, you can design things so you don't have 8 foot boards as part of the project.

 

I did make a 10' table for my Dad for his computers and games but I cheated and used oak plywood and used steel under the table to keep it flat and make the underside clean.

 

When I have time to burn I like to work on the wood pile and get it as ready as possible for a future project. I sort by thickness so it makes it easy to pick boards with minimal waste. If I want to finish with a 3/4" thick board I pick from the 13/16" stack knowing I have enough to make a pass or two for final true up of the sides.

 

I find it hard to resist some really nice boards that are 8' long, I didn't get any long boards from the red oak but see quite a few in the pile of white oak.

 

Chicken furniture is pretty short usually...

 

JT

Sorry I’m late to this one. You can build an edge jointer that will give you super straight and perfectly glue-able edges for the price of one 4X8 sheet of 3/4” melamine and an old router. A 1 HP router will do. A 1/2 shank router is best. The whole thing will take only an afternoon. We had one for years and it served us well. We had to make a bunch of 10’ doors for a house that were 1 3/4” thick and we had no other way to straighten the stock. It will give you a 8’ long bed and will jointer any thickness you can find a long enough router bit for. If you would like I can walk you through the build. It is very simple. When we were done with it it just hung on the wall. 
Paul

I'll second Masonsailor's idea.  We often used a router table with a nice 1/4"d spiral end mill as a jointer for very short boards. Add a few strips of blue tape to the outfeed side of the fence then set the bit flush to the tape.  Some fences are split and the sides can be adjusted independently.  Veneer edge tape or laminate edging can also be used on the outfeed side.  This worked great for short edges. Scale up the table and size of the endmill and you could slide 8' boards across it easily.    

4D

7 hours ago, Masonsailor said:

Sorry I’m late to this one. You can build an edge jointer that will give you super straight and perfectly glue-able edges for the price of one 4X8 sheet of 3/4” melamine and an old router. A 1 HP router will do. A 1/2 shank router is best. The whole thing will take only an afternoon. We had one for years and it served us well. We had to make a bunch of 10’ doors for a house that were 1 3/4” thick and we had no other way to straighten the stock. It will give you a 8’ long bed and will jointer any thickness you can find a long enough router bit for. If you would like I can walk you through the build. It is very simple. When we were done with it it just hung on the wall. 
Paul

Yes! Would love to see it.

On 4/17/2022 at 6:40 PM, jthornton said:

if anyone has any tips on jointing long boards

Lay everything out on a big kitchen table and tell your nephew you have an important job for him. The big test. 

 

19 hours ago, DAB said:

old MASH episode:  local walks in the tent, with a 2x4 in his hand.

The episode where Margaret and Frank wanted to commission a carving of the Colonial's face. Frank, to the local: "It looks like you! We want our money back".  Radar brings in a horse; "Hear are the keys" ??

I unstacked all the 5/4 white oak from the 4/4 white oak I cut 2 years ago underneath and processed it into 3 piles.

 

#1 Firewood Pile

#2 Maybe some good wood between the knots pile

#3 Some good wood pile.

 

That wood was from some smaller trees so no expectations for anything longer than 4' and that's how it played out. I was surprised that pile #2 and #3 were about the same size. Those trees were so close to being firewood but I didn't have any white oak so I gave it a shot.

 

Got a good look at the 5/4 from 3/21 and looks like about 10 or so will clean up at 8' so not too bad, I'll just wing it. The rest are going to be bits and pieces. I might give that wood a few more months to dry out  but it's at 10% so maybe I just need a rest...

 

Frank if you don't aglehea they don't eprectrea... assistant, light at night $7.50

 

JT

Edited April 19, 20224 yr by jthornton

20 hours ago, Masonsailor said:

Sorry I’m late to this one. You can build an edge jointer that will give you super straight and perfectly glue-able edges for the price of one 4X8 sheet of 3/4” melamine and an old router. A 1 HP router will do. A 1/2 shank router is best. The whole thing will take only an afternoon. We had one for years and it served us well. We had to make a bunch of 10’ doors for a house that were 1 3/4” thick and we had no other way to straighten the stock. It will give you a 8’ long bed and will jointer any thickness you can find a long enough router bit for. If you would like I can walk you through the build. It is very simple. When we were done with it it just hung on the wall. 
Paul

 

I'm surfacing one face and one edge, I have a piece of MDF that I use to cut a straight edge on messed up boards that are flat on the faces. This is rough, very rough cut boards that I'm processing.

 

JT

In lieu of having a surface planer once again I would go to the router. Build a simple sled type router mill. You can use that setup to flatten them. They work very well. 
Paul

I've seen those router planers and if I was working on something bigger than my thickness planer or drum sander could handle that would be a good way to flatten a huge slab of wood.

 

JT