hi,
I have 3 boards that are 1x4 maple to edge glue together into one table top board. Does each board get hand planed flat first or do I hand plane the boards after the the completed glue-up is done? What is the proper procedure to follow for edge joining several boards together?
thanks, Dimitri
"Dimit94844" wrote : : I have 3 boards that are 1x4 maple to edge glue together into one table top : board. Does each board get hand planed flat first or do I hand plane the boards : after the the completed glue-up is done?
Given that you have adequate thickness, glue then plane.
What is the proper procedure to follow : for edge joining several boards together?
Dimitri might like to look at my web site - Planing Notes - Rub Jointing.
Jeff G
No.
Lay the boards together to find the combination most pleasing to your eye. Mark the fronts, so you remember which order they go together. We'll call them numbers 1, 2 and 3, going forward.
Next, clamp the first two boards in a vise, with the back of #1 against the back of #2. Plane the edges straight, and as square as you can. You are planing BOTH edges at once. Next, clamp #2 and #3 in the vise, with the back of #2 against the back of #3. Plane both edges straight and square. Planing the boards together, back to back, will allow any departures from 90 degrees to cancel when the boards are assembled.
Glue them up. After the glue dries, square the part, finish the edges, and flatten the face.
Hope this helps, Barry
Having a shooting board will help with the process. DAGS on shooting board.
Dave in Fairfax
snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Dimit94844) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m28.aol.com:
The latest issue of Fine Woodworking has an article on flattening panels. Of course, his panels are single slabs of wood, but the same principles apply. One thing to be aware of during glue-up is to get the grain running the same direction for all of the boards. This makes planing the panel much, much easier. Sometimes glued-up panels have grain running so higgeldy-piggeldy all over the place that a thickness sander is the only efficient way to flatten them without incurring massive tear-out.
The replies I saw talk about jointing the edge, but I thought the poster was asking whether to flatten first and then join the boards or join boards and then flatten. I've had success doing it the first way. Flatten all boards to same thickness, and then join them together using clamps to hold the entire assembly flat.
------------------------------------------------------------------ The following was a set of detailed instructions that somebody reposted a while back which I found useful. This guy talks about a two phase procedure where you make panels as wide as your planer and then glue all of those panels together and plane them a bit, and then you carefully glue everything together to make one huge panel. I skipped the intermediate step in my glueup.
Prep stock,
- If I am starting with boards wider than 8", rip in half with band saw so they will fit on my DJ-20.
- Flatten all boards on my jointer.
- Thickness plane until all milling marks are gone from rough stock, leave at max yieldable (is that a word?) thickness.
- Edge joint, then rip to max yieldable (there is that word again...) width.
You need some psudocauls,
- Get some 2x6's, cut them to about 15", face joint one side flat, edge joint both edges (they don't need to be parallel, just strait).
- Put clear packing tape on one edge of the caul.
Make sub panels,
- Since my DeWALT planer is only 12½ inches wide, make sub panels no bigger than will fit through planer.
The Glue Up, (this is the AR part on how to get perfect panels)
- Lay your boards on the cauls (I use three sets most times for table top glueups), on top of the edge with the packing tape.
- Look for nice grain matches, check that grain is running in same direction on all boards as you will be running this through your planer and don't want tearout from opposing grain directions.
- Glue each edge, lay on cauls.
- DO NOT ALLOW BOARDS TO TOUCH! Keep them about ¼" apart.
- Place top cauls on top of boards being glued up, in line with lower cauls.
- Use F-clamps, two per caul, one for each end of a pair of cauls. Snug these clamps down, don't reef on them, just moderate pressure. (Crappy Tire's F-clamps are a great deal when they are on sale, I use the 18" model)
- You now have your boards all in the same plane, this is good. Had you touched the glued edges together before the cauls were in place it would be almost impossible to get them inline.
- Use pipe clamps to pull the boards together, start from the centre, alternate top and bottom.
- Once all of your pipe clamps are on, now you reef on the F-clamps, this keeps everything flat.
- Since you put packing tape on your cauls, the boards will slide together under pipe clamp pressure. The tape also prevents them from being glued down to the panel.
- Don't worry about mashing glue into panel, this is no big deal, you will be planing to final thickness and that will remove any ugly finish blocking glue marks.
- Leave in clamps for 30 min, remove clamps.
- Use a cabinet scraper (not paint scraper) to remove any glue squeeze out (Lee Valley sells cabinet scrapers). The glue is rubbery at this point and will remove easily without ripping out wood like it would if you removed it after it dried.
- Let 12" panel(s) sit for a day.
- Plane down to final desired thickness. I usually take a 1/64 at a time off at this point, turning the board over after every pass to even things out.
- Edge joint and rip to max yieldable width.
Need more psudocauls,
- This time cut them just a bit wider than the panel size.
- Check the layout of how your 12" subpanels will be glued up, note where the glue lines will be, mark these points on the cauls.
- Use a 1" forstner bit to drill a half circle out at each of these points. This will provide a place for glue squeeze out to go, you cannot simply mash it into the panel this time as there will be minimal sanding or planing.
- Again, cover one edge with packing tape, form it to fit into the half circles.
- For table tops, I use one caul about 6" in from each edge an one in the centre.
Final main panel glue up, (similar procedure to subpanel glueup)
- Lay boards on bottom cauls, arrange for best grain layout, reversing grain is less important this time, go for what is prettiest.
- Make sure the half circle cut outs in your cauls are where the glue lines will be.
- Glue each edge, again, MAKE SURE EDGES DO NOT TOUCH! Keep boards about ¼" apart.
- Place top caul on, hold it in place with an F-clamp at each end. Snug F-clamps.
- Use pipe clamps to pull boards together, again they will slip on the packing tape.
- Once boards are fully clamped with alternating pipe clamps, fully tighten down the F-clamps.
- After 30 minutes, remove from clamps and remove squeeze out with a cabinet scraper.
- Leave panel for a day.
Final clean up of panel,
- I have a wonderful Stanley #5½ type 9 large jack plane that I like to use to level out any minor imperfections in panels. I usually then finish plane with my little Stanley #3 type 12 smoother. A Lee Valley #4½ would do both jobs nicely, but I don't have one yet.
- For those of you who don't own any good hand planes, use a random orbital sander with some ~60 grit paper to level out any problem areas. Don't use a belt sander, they are dangerous to your panel and will ruin a panel very fast if you screw up. I can tell a panel flattened with a hand held belt sander from across the room, most people are not very good at it.
I also usually rejoint one edge and then rip to final width.
I have a panel cutting sled I built that I used to cross cut large panels to length.
Call your significant other and show him/her/it just how wonderful your glueup turned out. You will marvel at your work, and they will give you that blank look of, "huh, it's just a big board?".
I hopes this helps a few people. My first glueup was a total disaster, I vowed to find a way to due the perfect glueup and I think I have come close. Even though this sounds complicated and like a lot of work, try it once and you will do it every time. Especially for you folks who are new at this, it really is easy and it works wonderfully.
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