Ford Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 I've been having trouble recently getting my wood flat enough before glueing. It seems that no matter how many time I run it past the router or how much I sand I can alwayse see light though my joins.... Agrivating to say the least. Perhaps its just a lack of experience, but I've already sawed a laminated neck blank back appart once cause I wasnt happy with the join, and I'm not interested in doing it again. I have 80 grit sand paper glued to a mirror, doesnt seem to work that easily, unless it just takes hours of sanding for good reslult? I also have tried double sided taping a straight piece of anything and running past my router table (using a pattern bit), but I guess I cant seem to find anythign straight enough to use as a guide. Is there a more obvious answer to this problem? Cause I'm stumped... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 to get the edges of a board straight you need to use a jointer. For large flat pieces (doing tops) you need a planer or access to either tool. These are rather large, expenisve, specialized tools so not sure if you want to go that route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford Posted November 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 Well... I know about joiners... But I need the poor-boy's method... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud Posted November 28, 2004 Report Share Posted November 28, 2004 a jig for a router to sit on and use a flush trim bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford Posted November 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2004 What kind of jig would you reccomend, or can you think of a straight enough straight edge other than the $60 Stew-Mac one? Though... I wonder how hard it would be to make a simple jig. Maybe set the router up on two level peices of wood, fasten it down somehow, then slide the wood to be leveled under the router? Hrm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud Posted November 28, 2004 Report Share Posted November 28, 2004 ya as long as the table surface your using is flat and the two risers for the router are the same height and flat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford Posted November 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2004 Thanks so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud Posted November 28, 2004 Report Share Posted November 28, 2004 the problem I see though is that the wood on the one side won't be even so by doing this you would probably end up with an angle in the wood. Hmmm that idea is kinda shot. Best thing I can think of is use a straight piece and measure along the wood exactly to the dimensions you want and run the router along the straight edge following the line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford Posted November 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2004 See, thing is that I'm not 100% sure I can find a straight edge that is straight enough that doesnt cost $60. Last weeks lesson was that aluminum "straight edges" from Home Depe arent neccessaily straight... I'm also suspicious of the sandpeper glued to glass method. It seems to me that the middle of the piece of wood I'm sanding gets sanded more, if thats possible, so there's this nice arch to everything... REALLY frusterating. Tonight though I grabbed a piece of wood that I KNOW has been through a joiner, and so far that works a little better. Tonights lesson is: "Watch the grain when routing maple." Stupid tearout... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanKirk Posted November 28, 2004 Report Share Posted November 28, 2004 Have you tried a hand plane and lotsof clamps & cauls when glueing pieces together? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted November 28, 2004 Report Share Posted November 28, 2004 Use you router table to cut a straight slot in a board. Make the slot the same size as the bearing on your pattern bit, eg 1/2". Clamp your two sides to be jointed down to a flat surface, with a 15/16" gap between them. Clamp the board over the top of the gap so that 1/32" of wood is visible through the slot on each side. Run your pattern bit down the gap, with the bearing against the slot. Only take one pass, at fulldepth. You'll remove 1/32" from each side, and leave a perfect joint. Even if your slot is a hair off straight, or your router cutter a hair off perpendicular to the base it won't matter, because both sides are cut at once they'll fit anyway. You may get a bit of tearout on one side due to unfavorable cutter direction, but this can be cleared away with a *very* light sanding. This worked for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.Dodding Posted November 28, 2004 Report Share Posted November 28, 2004 (edited) The best way (in my mind) to do it without a machine jointer is to use a plane and shooting board. It's best to use a nice big plane, preferably something like a no7 bailey pattern plane. However shorter planes will work also. I would'nt want to use anything smaller than a No5 jack plane for this however. Take a look at this link to see what I mean. Although the person in this link is using a wooden plane, it's the same as with a bailey style one. Edited November 28, 2004 by S.Dodding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford Posted November 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2004 Holy crap Setch!!! Who are you and where do you come from!?! That sounds like it will work great! Thanks! I tried a hand plane at one point (one some pine first of course), but I was so clumsy with it I was afraid to try on my nicer woods. I could never quiet get things straight and level with it. It was a 9.5" plane, and that might have something to do with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catnine Posted November 29, 2004 Report Share Posted November 29, 2004 (edited) You can do a very good job with a hand plane if it's setup right and has a sharp blade . I use hand planes for most all of my work , you get a feel for them after some use . Also I made a long 2 inch wide by 2 inch thick sanding block and insatlled a bass truss rod in it , this way I can adjust it straight and it stays there . Also a thick sheet of glass with 100 grit paper glued to it makes a great straight sanding surface , to get a side at 90 degrees to the face you mount a straight block as a guide fence to keep the work at 90 degrees . Edited November 29, 2004 by catnine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kammo1 Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 Hi Setch, as this is my first post could you post some pics of the jig that you use to get the joint perfect as in your preveious post?? Kammo1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CudBucket Posted December 6, 2004 Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 Hey Ford, Before I got myself a jointer, I used a handplane. I have to tell you it was one of the most satisfying experience I've had in woodworking. The most important part was tuning the tool. You can find plenty of info on the web about that. Once the plane was lapped and the iron sharpened, it cut like a dream. Another thing: some woodworkers I've spoken to prefer that there be a 1/32 gap in the center of joint. In other words, if you're joining 2 boards, the joint should close up at the ends and there should be a 1/32 cab in the center. The reason is that, a very small amount of clamp pressure will close the gap in the center and the joints at the end will have extra pressure and less likely open up. Good luck. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotrock Posted December 6, 2004 Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 Definaely Setch's method would work fine (and better than the method I'm about to suggest). I have 2 straight edges, one of which was a big straight bit of meta I swiped from a building site and the other is a metal rule that I bought from a shop for about £5. It's 1 meter long and proding that you don't jump up and down on it will be perfectly straight $60 for a straight edge seems a little excessive considering how many long straight bits metal you can easily get hold of. Kaj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KramerKrazy Posted December 13, 2004 Report Share Posted December 13, 2004 I tried the straight bit in the router table thing. that didn't work right. I pulled out my cabinet making skills and used my style & rail set. Style & Rail bits for thinner stuff like 4 piece bodies it works great. For thicker stuff you could probably use a stackable finger joint bit. Finger joint bit Either way you will get a very tight and strong joint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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