Ripping 18' long 2x6...

[Stuart Welsh]

I rip 14' long stock on my table saw, but I have a 30' long shop and solid infeed and outfeed tables.

To keep it simple why not use full 1 1/2" thick stock? You could reduce your top block to 3/4" or rabbet the the top edges to fit your block in the drawing.

Thanks for you input but I'm not sure I understand your question Andrew. The stock is thicker than 1 1/2, actually about 1 11/16 or when tripled up totals 5 1/16.

The need to thin down two of the three boards comes from the fact that;

1) Runs of 3 3/4" beams spaced 19 3/4" OC will fit perfectly across my ceiling.
2) The design element is a pair of rabbet's cut down the length of the beam. (If this were a solid 4x6 they would in fact be dados.) If you look closely at the CAD in my post, the center board is full width sandwiched between outer boards that are ripped (or planed) to 1" thus totaling 3 3/4". By placing the rabbet on the outer boards it makes them look narrower, a design specific. In addition the joint then gets hidden in the corner of what looks like a dado.

As for the second part of your post "reduce your top block to 3/4" or rabbet the the top edges to fit your block in the drawing." I'm confused as to the reason for that. Why do you suggest I rabbet the top edges?

[roger wiegand]

I just ripped a bunch of 16' 1x16 cherry boards (A veneered lumber core engineered product I lucked into) in making my baseboards.

My saw is positioned so that boards can hang out the window on one side and fit about 17 ft on the other (I can turn the saw a tad and have it feed in one window and out another if necessary.) I have a 2x6 ft outfeed table that normally sits perpendicular to the saw blade. I turned it sideways and moved it out a few feet. On the infeed side I used two roller stands, on the outfeed I used another roller stand beyond the outfeed table. At the saw I set fingerboards to provide inward and downward pressure to keep the boards snug against the fence and down on the table. Once set up this way it was easy to cut several hundred feet of board. Yes, there's a lift to get each board up onto the roller stands, but then it's just a long gentle push through the blade to make the cut. I had enough support that nothing sagged in any alarming way. It didn't seem that hard, but maybe I was missing something. Yes, long boards have inertia, but it is extremely predictable and relatively easy to manage. (Not like carrying an 80 lb child having a tantrum, for example!) Certainly didn't seem a risk to life or limb.

[Stuart Welsh]

If I am understanding this correctly, the beams are a purely decorative addition. As such, had you considered 1" stock? It could fairly easily be mitered at the corners to hid the joints, or a number of other methods. Much lower cost, significant weight reduction and far easier handling would be the minimum benefits

You make a valid suggestion but I'm not going that route for a few reasons.
1) The accuracy required for mitering the corners will be quite high to hide the miter and very difficult to achieve when cutting an 18 foot board.
2) Even it I can achieve a perfect cut on both boards, gluing up will require gussets for proper alignment or at least nails. (Gussets will take much longer than adding reinforcement to the ceiling or walls to carry the weight of 2x6's.)
3) Changes in humidity in the house, particularly a kitchen will surely cause movement and gaps in the miter to appear.
4) My cedar supplier tells me 1x6 doesn't come any longer than 14' and the majority of the beams I need are 16' and a few even longer.
5) Most significant...I'm perhaps too picky but I don't want anyone to guess that the beams are not full 4 x 6 beams based on appearance. This home and the neighboring homes fall on the high end of finish out and the beams need to be real or if not, indistinguishable to the average person.

[Stuart Welsh]

Jointing and planing would be a reasonable solution. That's how I achieved the columns in the photos (Douglass fir and Eastern hemlock) How do you intend to glue? How will you do the clamping? Takes a fair number of clamps for something that long - though I suppose there are other approaches using large rubber bands (bicycle inner tubes or surgical tubes) or simply weights. Or glue and nail/screw.

My plan is to glue and clamp. I think I can get by with a clamp every 6" so the maximum number of clams I'll need is about 34. I'll do one beam at a time, use all the clamps I have, borrow what I can and buy what I need. The Bessy F clamp in small sizes won't break the bank considering this is part of a total kitchen remodel. Besides, any excuse to buy clamps is a good thing!

[John Sanford]

And now for something completely different.....

If you want it to look like a solid beam, then it needs to start as a solid beam. Sure, you can take a beam, slice it up, and then glue it back together, that will look like a solid beam from floor level. You could glue up three separate pieces, but of course, there's a good chance it will look like three separate pieces.

If you want to do the slice and dice, I would start with a solid beam. Rip the BOTTOM face off. This make the side pieces, which were 6" high, now only 5" high. Then rip the sides off the blank, discarding the center. Glue back up, voila. (mark appropriate faces before ripping to insure accurate reassembly.)

Or you could hollow it it. Set your beams up on sawhorses, and just run a router and/or circular saw down them, hollowing them out. You could accomplish the same thing using a dado blade on a table saw (with the beam manipulation issues of course), but you won't get as deep of a cut.

You could buy (or possibly even rent) one of the timber framing circular saws with a 10 1/4" blade, which will give you a 3 13/15" depth of cut. Or you could go massive and use one of the mongo Makita monsters which has a 6" depth of cut, and I know that you can rent those puppies. Because the condition of the cut bottom doesn't matter, you can simply run cuts 1/4" apart and whack the waste out. Build a little "cutting platform" so the saw is fully supported at all times and you can probably knock out a bunch of beams in a day. It'll be hard work, but simple, foolproof, and safer than horsing a bunch of long beams around. (I'd probably do a first set of cuts using a standard worm drive saw and then use the monster, just because pushing that 30+ pound beast all day will be taxing.)

Heck, you may even be able to use a chainsaw. Not something I would attempt, but I have ZERO experience with a chain saw. I'm sure one of those chain saw scupltors could make short work of hollowing your beams.

[Andrew Joiner]

As for the second part of your post "reduce your top block to 3/4" or rabbet the the top edges to fit your block in the drawing." I'm confused as to the reason for that. Why do you suggest I rabbet the top edges?

As the picture below shows the beam will capture a smaller strip of lumber attached to the existing ceiling framing. The beams will run perpendicular to the joists so this smaller strip will attach to every joist with reliable fasteners. The beam will then be nailed through the side into the mounting strip. The design of the beam will allow me to: Save weight, incorporate a chase for wiring if needed, and allow fastening to the ceiling in more locations with smaller nails and thus easier to hide. Oh and for the curious as to why the 3 3/4 thickness…The room width is such that 3 3/4" beams will lay out perfectly within the room when spaced 16" apart.

Attachment 310816

You could use them full thickness at 1 11/16" then there'd be a 3/8" gap between them not 1 3/4" as in your drawing.

The rabbet on the top edges houses or receives the strip of lumber attached to the existing ceiling framing.

[Stuart Welsh]

I just ripped a bunch of 16' 1x16 cherry boards (A veneered lumber core engineered product I lucked into) in making my baseboards.

My saw is positioned so that boards can hang out the window on one side and fit about 17 ft on the other (I can turn the saw a tad and have it feed in one window and out another if necessary.) I have a 2x6 ft outfeed table that normally sits perpendicular to the saw blade. I turned it sideways and moved it out a few feet. On the infeed side I used two roller stands, on the outfeed I used another roller stand beyond the outfeed table. At the saw I set fingerboards to provide inward and downward pressure to keep the boards snug against the fence and down on the table. Once set up this way it was easy to cut several hundred feet of board. Yes, there's a lift to get each board up onto the roller stands, but then it's just a long gentle push through the blade to make the cut. I had enough support that nothing sagged in any alarming way. It didn't seem that hard, but maybe I was missing something. Yes, long boards have inertia, but it is extremely predictable and relatively easy to manage. (Not like carrying an 80 lb child having a tantrum, for example!) Certainly didn't seem a risk to life or limb.

I bet those are going to be some sweet looking base boards. From your description I assume you mean you had to set your blade about 1" high to cut through the (3/4") thickness of the board, yielding narrower strips of stock that was still 3/4" thick? Your points are well taken but keep in mind I'm talking about cutting all the way through the width, not the thickness of my 2x6's. On a table saw I'll have get the blade as high as possible (3") just to get halfway through the width of the board. Then flip the board and cut from the other side and hope my kerfs line up reasonably, all while wrestling that length with a blade fully buried.

[Stuart Welsh]

You could use them full thickness at 1 11/16" then there'd be a 3/8" gap between them not 1/34" as in your drawing.

The rabbet on the top edges houses or receives the strip of lumber attached to the existing ceiling framing.

Hey Andrew, I sent you a PM.

[Keith Weber]

Do you have a track saw? It would take moving the time ac a few times but you said the cut side won't be seen... That would be my first choice

You're suggesting resawing an 18' 2x6 with a track saw??? Your kidding, right? Your first choice, even when he said he had a bandsaw and a planer? It seems that in every other thread, somebody suggests using a magical track saw as the solution to just about anything. I think somebody's been spiking the green Kool Aid. :-)

[Andrew Joiner]

Hey Andrew, I sent you a PM.

The space that you show as 1 3/4" would become 3/8'' with the method I described. You'd need to rabbet the top inner edges to receive your hanger strip because a 3/8" wide strip wouldn't be strong enough unless it was metal.

I don't know how to explain it any better. To close the space on the bottom edge a 3/8"x 3/4" strip of cedar would work without rabbeting. Yes, the bottom edge wouldn't look like the drawing, but it would look more like a solid beam.

[Mike Kees]

I think it would make more sense to rip the piece in the middle narrower. Also using 3/4 or one inch stock would be far lighter. Anyhow that is just my 2 cents worth. ..

[Stuart Welsh]

I think it would make more sense to rip the piece in the middle narrower. Also using 3/4 or one inch stock would be far lighter. Anyhow that is just my 2 cents worth. ..

Thanks for the input Mike. Though ripping the middle board would reduce the number of rips needed by half the resulting look would not be what I'm after and same for what using 3/4 stock would do. In addition 3/4 is not available from my supplier any longer than 14'.

[Stuart Welsh]

Yep....an 18' 4x6 cedar timber weighs about 80 lbs. In addition to the unwieldy issue, you're adding considerable dead load to your ceiling structure @16" spacing....can it handle it without additional support?

The beams will be 4.5 lbs per foot and I calculate the total weight of all beams (including hanging strip) would be just over 1000 lbs. Sounds like a lot but over 380 sq ft that amounts to about 2.8 lbs per foot. In addition I plan on carrying the ends of the beams into the walls and supporting them with 2x4 blocking so the ceiling will not carry all the weight.

[Peter Quinn]

I've made a lot of box beams as we call them here in New England for the same reasons you are considering, decorative element to suggest a timber frame construction when one does not in fact exist. You seem to have your mind made up, but Ive never seen it done the way you suggest and can't understand your resistance. You don't need 1" thick wood, you certainly don't need to burn up all that 2" cedar in a planer, at a saw mill, or otherwise, and I wouldn't add one ounce more weight to the ceiling than necessary. I'm guessing a standard box beam the way we make them weights less than sheetrock, no worries about dead load.

My first approach is a miter fold. You do need a good table saw miter set up, a power feed is helpful but not essential, feather boards can get it done with roller stands or an infeed table, and you will have to know how to operate a roll of packing tape. My mother can lift an 18' cedar box beam glued up form 3/4" stock. You need to order fairly straight stock, if you can't get it straight lined by your supplier you can rig up a long skill saw track, put one straight edge, miter the other side. The middle sets your width, the sides determined your height, you lag 2X stock or 5/4 blocking to the ceiling to your layout, the "ears" of the boxes get screwed or nailed to this. To glue up the beams, you lay them edge to edge A face up on a long assembly bench tape the seams tightly, I like to set them up with some cross grain butterflies (think like bandages) then go with the long grain, use a J roller to make sure tape is well stuck, I use heavy duty packing tape. Clamp a caul to each end, flip it over, spread glue in the valleys created at the meeting of the up side down miters, fold them up. A few blocks at the top with a clamp hold it together with a clamp, or you can use tape, it doesn't hurt to make a few blocks to keep things squared up...though its meant to simulate a timber frame beam, and those are not usually square! I like to burnish the edges while the glue is still wet with a hard round metal object like a screw driver to soften the razor edges and close them up, once glue dries they are pretty tough. Do NOT clean up glue squeeze that goes to the inside, nothing should go to the out side if done correctly. I have done hundreds of these, up to 20 feet long, sometimes we have to half lap boards to make length. It couldn't be easier. If you saw this done once you would pretty much laugh at any other suggestion. Its really very easy, quick, efficient of materials.

If you had a shaper and a lock miter id suggest that, but I probably wouldn't buy one just for this. And I'd never consider going monolithic, no sense adding that much weight to a structure that does not also add strength.

Here's a quick sketch of the basic idea.





The other option is a simple rabbit joint on the sides that leaves a 1/4", flat stock for the bottom, glue and clamp the whole thing up, flush trim the tips of the rabbits....not quite as invisible but very passible if the ceilings are high and the light not direct at beam height. We also do them with beaded sides and a tongue in bottom piece that references into a groove in the inside of the side pieces, these are much more "colonial" new england, not so much a troupe l'oiel to simulate a real beam structure.

I wish you luck in what ever you choose, its a beautiful style.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Odd coincidence - I have recently thought through this very topic - false beams. Musings from my thoughts:

The piece attached to the joists does not have to be a continuous, full-length board. It can be short blocks - like 6" - at the joists. You just need to keep them in line when you anchor them - a full-length straight board tacked into place so that the nail holes left behind will be hidden by the sides.

Perhaps, given your close spacing, you could even use some 1/2" ply or mdf pieces - sized for the spacing between the joist blocks...........get the first row in place, then use the ply jig for consistent offset and a straight line for the next row.

The sides of the false beams don't have to be 1". They can be 1/2" - 5/8" - whatever yield you get from the bulk stock you start with. Run through the bandsaw, and then through the planer to give you consistent thickness and one good face. Then through the TS with a glue-line blade for one good edge, and consistent dimension.

The bottom of the beam also does not need to be very thick.

The full-length side and bottom boards...............I have given consideration to shorter boards, with beveled overlap joints.............but I'm not really sold on that idea.........just an option I was thinking about. Easier to handle, cheaper to buy shorter lengths...........but not the same look.

I admit that I was not considering something with spacing nearly as "tight" as yours............but I don't see how that changes my thinking...............

Looking forward to seeing where you land, and what the project looks like. Would help me with my thought process - learn from someone else's mistakes......not that I am rooting for you to have any problems, of course.

Best of luck

Kent