6" jointer 8" boards rrrrrrrrrrrr

[Brian Hale]

I've got 14 soild birch drawer fronts to make, each one 36"wide and 7 3/8" tall. Most of my lumber is over 6" wide but my jointer is only 6".

Should i rip the wide ones in half, joint, glue and plane or is there another method. I don't own a good hand plane and my 15" planer isn't much help.

Thanks
Brian

Of course Wilke sells a nice 12" behemoth

[Chris Padilla]

Brian,

Dontcha have any SMCers nearby or other ww'ing Buddies to help bail you out? That is a lot of jointing and planing just to get something 1 3/8" wider than you can joint. It might be worth it to visit a pro shop and pay them to joint the wider boards.

[Larry Crim]

I see a good excuse to get a 8"jointer weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Only kidding I had the same problem and I got a 8" so I ripped em, a lot of extra work for a little extra width, It doesn't matter how big your tool is you will always run into a job that requires one bigger.
If its the pattern of the wood you want to preserve maybe Can you change the design of the drawers and use a border or raised panel to gain the width.
Pat

[Brian Hale]

Thanks guys....

Since i'll need to add some boards to get to 7 3/8", maybe i'll just give each one a 1 1/2" board in the center..... How would that look???

[Jim Becker]

For a quick fix, use a sled with the planer to flatten one face by shimming, etc. Start with longer boards so you can use the ends at will as you need to with fasteners, obviously keeping said fasteners well below where the knives will be working their magic.

IMHO, if there is any way to use stock that is wide enough to cover the entire drawer front height, you'll like the results better than with a glue-up. Drawer fronts tend to be a focal point and any break in the grain/figure will be noticable, unless you're using very straight grain or QS/Rift materials.

[Brad Schmid]

I'll second Jim's answer. I have a dresser underway that has 11" deep bottom drawers. I paid a premium for the 12" 6/4 cherry and I don't want a break in the grain pattern on the most visible part of the piece. I will use a sled like jim describes since my Jointer is only 8". Insted of shimming, I plan on using a jack screw arrangement on the seld so I can make fine adjustments to solidly support the stock to get one side flat.

Cheers,
Brad

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Hi Brian, I'll THIRD Jim's answer. I use a sled with wedges to support the board. Just insert various size wedges around the board where it needs it for stability. I use hot melt glue or double stick carpet tape to hold it all together. When properly attached the board should have no movement when pushed around its perimeter. Good luck. Alan in Md.

[Mathew Nedeljko]

Glen Huey gives a good tip for using a 13 planer to joint boards that are too wide for a 6" jointer. Take off your guard on the jointer and joint as much of the board as you can with your jointer. Be extra careful doing this as the guard is removed. This will leave you with a 6" wide part of the board that is flat.

Now simply lay your jointed flat piece onto a sled of plywood of a size equal to your jointer cut, and run the piece through the planer. With one side completely flat, finish the process in the usual manner.

Presto, you now have one jointed flat face on your wide board. Take the board off the sled and run the other side through the planer without the sled and you are done.

For reference, here is a link to the book.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

There is a picture of this process on pg 60.

Good luck and let us know how it works out.

Of course, you could always use this as a good reason to upgrade to a wider jointer as the others are suggesting too

[Jay Knoll]

If you can't find that book, look at pg 66 in the Woodworkers Problem Solver published by the American Woodworker (I found it in Barnes and Noble) it highlights the same technique (remove guard, joint down a bit but no more that 1/4", put a piece of 1/4" ply in the recess you just cut, run through the planer to get a flat surface, turn over, plane down the uneven side)

There you go, no need to run to the book store

Good luck

Jay

[Joe Scarfo]

If you routinely use the same lumber yard, they may face one edge for a few $$. My local source would.

I have a bud around the corner who has a shop that compliments mine. The stuff I don't have, he does and Visa Versa...

Good Luck
Joe

[Brian Hale]

Well i made a sled and was surprised at the results! It works really really well. I used 3/4 MDF with a block attached to the end. Layed the boards on the sled and shimed as required and made several lite passes thru the planer. Once i had a nice flat surface, flipped it over and ran it thru without the sled.

Way Cool!

I looked at using the jointer method but when i removed the guard and turned it on i decided i didn't like the bloody possiblities. No, i'm not hyper safety guy but man did those blades look hungery!

Thanks again for the input. You folks are GREAT!

Brian

Hmmmmmmm how much is that Bridgewood jointer......