Replies

1. 
   trusche2 | Sep 17, 2004 12:24am | #1

   Joel,

     I had a similar problem some years back.  I took my stock back to the nearby supplier (from where it was purchased) and had him run the boards through the jointer used in the shop.  He did not charge me for this service.  Good luck with your project.

   Cheers,

   T2

1. 
   Julmer | Sep 17, 2004 10:56pm | #3

   I just finished a desk/cabinet top that was 90" long  - 5/4 white oak - and also too long/heavy for me to trust my little 6" jointer. I table sawed the the boards close to straight and then used my router on both of them at the same time to get a nice tight fit.  You need a straight bit that will cut the thickness of the top. Clamp both boards down, but slightly elevated off the supports (table/floor). Leave a gap between the mating faces slightly smaller that the cutting diameter of the straight bit.  Now clamp a straight edge for the router base to ride against. (one on both sides is best. Position the straight edge so it will trim alittle off both plank faces at the same time. The beauty of this setup is that even if your router does not follow a perfectly straight line, the faces of the boards match up with each other.

2. 
   Midnight | Sep 19, 2004 12:24am | #6

   Joel...

   as the others have suggested, a saw/router with a straight edge jig will get you close.. but to finish the edge (get it good enough for glue up) use a hand plane, preferably a jointing plane.. there's not a power tool out there that can look at the quality, fit or finish of a hand planed edge...or board for that matter...Mike Wallace

   Stay safe....Have fun

2. 
   Alan | Sep 17, 2004 02:13am | #2

   Joelhilgy,

   What you describe has been a way to join various wood thingies for a few thousand years--except for the circular saw, of course.  It's called kerfing or kerfing in.  You can easily use it for your table top.

   The only difficult part is to find a way to hold the two boards so they don't move at all while you're sawing.  That can be an obstacle; you need to fix the stock in position while you saw between them.

   Once the boards are fixed in position so their edges are as close together as they can be, so they touch where they can, run a saw* all the way down the joint between them.  You then move the boards so, as before, their edges touch where they can, and saw down between them again.  You keep that up until they meet perfectly all the way down the joint.

   If you want to refine the joint a bit, run a jointer plane down the edges.  This must be done with great precision to maintain that perfect joint.

   I would not use sandpaper.  It would be far too easy to round over the edges.

   If you want better instructions, go to Saint Roy of Underhill's web site "The Woodwright's Shop" or first go to PBS.org and then link to Saint Roy's page.  Look for an article called "The Boat Builders" if my rememberer is in gear today.

   *I always use a hand saw.  A hand saw will follow the joint between the boards without much attention from the sawyer.  A power saw will too easily go astray.  Besides, there's not all that much wood to remove.

   Alan

3. 
   Clay | Sep 18, 2004 04:15am | #4

   Your portable circular saw will do an excellent job of straight edging the boards if you will get a good straight edge to run it against.  I do this all the time when cutting plywood sheets and I get results that are not very different than what large industrial panel saws will acheive.  I've also straight-edged lots of rough lumber that was too large for my 6" jointer this way.  If you will mount your straight edge to a sheet of 1/8" to 1/4" hardwood ply/paneling and then cut off the excess, you will have a real deluxe straight line jig (this way the cut edge is marked by the jig edge for you).  I use smaller versions of this jig for cutting off passage doors.  This way there is no need to cut between the boards ... they should all be straight and with perpendicular edges.  You may have to double cut some boards as they might move a little when you first cut them.  This is true when you use a jointer too of course.

1. 
   user-7895 | Sep 18, 2004 04:32am | #5

   Thanks everyone for your help, I really appreciate the input. I feel pretty good about doing it now, I have tuned my circular saw, built a sacrificial grid table that I can clamp securely to, and made the straight edge cutting board with maple plywood and hardboard (alá Fine Woodworking article) to handle the planks. Now if I can put it all together I'll have a very happy wife! Thanks again.

   Edited 9/17/2004 9:35 pm ET by joelhilgy

   Edited 9/17/2004 9:36 pm ET by joelhilgy