Straightening S2S boards on the Table Saw

[Leon]

For years I have been using a jig to straighten my boards on my table saw, it does a much better and faster job than my jointer. The Walnut Desk that I recently built and posted pictures of had 2, 15" x 60" panels made up of 3 boards each. The desk top 31" x 60" was made from 6 glued up boards. All edges were prepared on the TS using the jig and a 40 tooth Forrest WWII. The joints for the most part are undetectable unless the grain was significantly different or unless you looked at the ends of the panels.

The current Woodsmith magazine, No. 178, has a picture of a jig that uses the exact same technique and method that I use but their jog is a bit more refined. I highly recommend checking out this issue if you are interested in making straight glue line joints whether you have a jointer or not.

[Ed Bailen]

Sorry, but my take on reactionary wood is -- don't use it. I have a solid oak diningroom table that was fine for many years, but one particularly dry summer, it split along the glue joint. If you joint a piece of reactionary wood and use it in an application that has significantly different humidity, it is going to warp or curl unless you are using it in a application that uses short pieces.

Ed

** Posted from **

[Leon]

I'm a little confused here Ed. What does reactionary wood have to do with straightening S2S on a TS instead of on a jointer?

[Tim W]

And what is 'reactionary' wood anyway? Sort of right wing ultra conservative wood? I wouldn't touch the stuff either.

Tim W

[Leon]

Reactionary wood is wood that was improperly dried and or wood that may have been under stress while the tree was growing. Typically wood taken from limbs that grow closer to horizontal will have more internal stress. This becomes a problem when sawing/ripping. As you rip the board it will tend to want to close back up and pinch the blade or it can bow open, either way you end up with a board that is no longer straight.

[Ed Bailen]

Leon, I was working from the comment that the OP wanted to "straighten" the wood. I have no issues with using the TS to joint a rough or uneven edge on a plank, indeed, that is my preference. If the wood is curved, however, I will usually pass on it or try to salvage a shorter piece.

Ed

** Posted from **

[Leon]

Well Ed, I am the OP and I would sure like to find out where you get S2S lumber that is straight, does not come in random widths, and is not narrower on one end.

Perhaps you are buying S3S or S2S ripped straight on 1 edge.

[Frank Boettcher]

Good advice. I have a very good jointer, but oft times the wood supplied by my cranky old local sawmill owner represents a significant challange at least to get to a starting point for jointing.

Think I'll look into it.

Frank

[Morris Dovey]

Mine isn't refined at all - but it was easy to build and has worked for me. Photos at the link below.

[Leon]

Mine is very much like yours Morris, I have the 2 toggle clamps mounted on 2 small wood blocks. I screw the 2 wood blocks down where ever needed. I do however use a 8' long sled that is about 11" wide.

[Leon]

Frank, you might find that if you make the jig/sled long enough you may prefer to use it over the jointer. I get joints that close up perfectly with no clamps.

[Lew Hodgett]

Adding "Swing's" technique of end for end cuts from board to board produces complimentary cut faces that cancel any blade angle error, thus insuring a tight cut face fit.

Lew

[B A R R Y]

So, wood that bends before you use it is proactive wood?

[Jack Stein]

I've always numbered each edge to be jointed 1 to whatever and when jointing even #'s are face against the fence (in), odd #'s are face away from the fence (out). This way your joint is guaranteed to be a perfect

90 degrees, even if the fence isn't a perfect 90. In fact, you get a bigger gluing surface if the fence is not a perfect 90. With a table saw you would do the same thing, alternating face up and face down, eliminating any worry about your blade being a perfect 90 to the table.

Also, like Leon, I've found little need to joint an edge to prepare for glue up. I discovered once when making something unimportant and was using a 12 tooth blade, and glued it up rough as hell and it was close to perfect. I still use the jointer because it is there and handy, but would have zero problems jointing right from the table saw with a 40 tooth.

[Renata]

What the heck - you got a cherry outfeed table?!?!

Renata

[Morris Dovey]

In my dreams! It's _really_ cheap luan-faced 3/4" plywood.

(But I do like the way you think )

[Morris Dovey]

You can see just how cheap by following the link below and looking at the 4th photo from the bottom of the page...

[Pat Barber]

Varnish makes pressure treated pine look good at a distance. I have seen some luan panels that looked pretty nice and when you add "any" finish, it looks better.

It "is" mahogany.

Morris Dovey wrote:

[krw]

Unrelated question: It looks like your shop is in a garage? Is there a problem with rust? I'm moving to Alabama next week and finally will buy a table/cabinet saw (we're done moving for a long while). Since basements are rare where there isn't ground frost I was wondering what to do with cast iron tools.

BTW, a lot of good hints. Thanks.

[Morris Dovey]

Sort of - it's in an aircraft hanger.

It's been unusually humid this year (not far from my shop they were measuring the humidity in feet, so I guess I shouldn't complain) - and I've seen even more rusting than usual.

The tools that are most used seem to be those that show the rust least. My suggestion would be to maximize tool usage. :-)

Thank /you/ for the feedback!