Can I ripsaw then glue?

[Bob Glenn]

I'm ripping some quarter sawn white oak 3/4 inch thick for a table top. I plan on adding a spline to the edge joints and a small champher to the exposed edges to mask any slight deviation and add some definition to the top. Providing my edges are square and mate well, do I really need to joint the edges before gluing? Bob

[Chris Hachet]

I always dry assemble my glue ups and use a hand plane to tune up anything that is not perfect.

[Curt Harms]

What is this table going to be used for? If you chamfer the edges of each board, make sure you're not creating a crumb catcher. I usually joint one edge and rip the other. A good blade on a well tuned table saw can produce a pretty nice edge for gluing but I've never glued up a solid wood table top so no experience. Chris' advice to dry assemble first is excellent. Some people buy or make gluing cauls to help with alignment. Cauls can be as simple as something like a 1 X 3 with packing tape on one edge so glue doesn't stick to it. Create a bit of a convex shape so when the cauls are placed on either side of the panel and clamped, they create pressure across the entire panel. If they are just flat they may create good pressure on the edges and not so much in the center. I probably wouldn't bother with splines but that's just me.

[Frederick Skelly]

You can and Ive done so if the two sides of the joint align well enough. But I find that the glue line is thinner/better looking if I joint first.

Fred

[Mike Henderson]

You can and Ive done so if the two sides of the joint align well enough. But I find that the glue line is thinner/better looking if I joint first.

Fred

That's been my experience also. Before I had a jointer, I would glue up off the table saw and the results were very acceptable.

If you're looking to make some cauls to make sure the top is flat and the boards aligned, here's a link.

Mike

[Joe Spear]

I don't have a jointer. I rip my boards with a WWII or Freud Fusion and then glue up with no problems.

[Darcy Warner]

I glue right off the SLR.

[Doug Garson]

Single Lens Reflex? What am I missing here?

[glenn bradley]

Straight Line Rip.

Just look around any furniture store and you will find that there are a lot of things you can do. Dry fit your parts and if the fit is up to your standards, you're good. If they are not, a pass or two with a hand plane, a run across the jointer or even a swipe with a true and squared sanding block can do the trick.

[Doug Garson]

OK cause my next guess was this:

[Wayne Lomman]

Gluing sawn edges is quite acceptable. Use a middling tooth count blade and a sharp one at that. Do it accurately and the glue line will be no more visible than using jointed edges. Cheers

[Brian Tymchak]

I'm ripping some quarter sawn white oak 3/4 inch thick for a table top. I plan on adding a spline to the edge joints and a small champher to the exposed edges to mask any slight deviation and add some definition to the top. Providing my edges are square and mate well, do I really need to joint the edges before gluing? Bob

With the strength of modern glues, and good joint prep, and good technique during glue up to keep the edges aligned while clamping, I see no need to do the extra work to add a spline in the edge joints.

[Robert Engel]

Yes you need to joint the edges. If done carefully, you will not have to address the joints in any way to make up for discrepancies.

Everyone has a technique that works for them. FWIW here's mine:

Personally, I rarely glue up right off the saw. I use a power jointer, alternating faces to cancel any 90° discrepancy in the fence. Sometimes I edge joint with a hand plane because I think its fun. Doing two boards at a time, keeping the faces of the boards together so as to produce complimentary angles and cancel out error. I like to do a spring joint but you must be careful here not to alter the edge angle.

I've found alignment aids such as biscuits, splines, etc. are unnecessary. They help if dealing with bowed boards or the application calls for additional strength.

One thing I will stress is always, always do a dry run before gluing. Using incremental clamp pressure and a rubber mallet, I adjust the joints as flush as I can get them. Finish by addressing glue lines with hand plane and scraper.

One of the biggest stress factors in panel glue ups it milling the lumber to final dimension before gluing, which forces you into achieving perfect joints. If you keep your panels and tops thick the anxiety is much less. Hope this helps.

[Ted Reischl]

Yes you need to joint the edges.

Strange, I have glued up lots and lots of table tops. Have not jointed any of them.

I even owned a jointer for a long time. Straightening an edge on a jointer is problematic unless you own a big honking one or you are doing small pieces. If the board is more than half the length of the jointer bed, the board rides over the jointer like going over a hill:

Capture.JPG
Yes, you can nibble away the ends but that is no guarantee those ends will be coplanar. Eventually you will get to a point where the cutter will take a cut along the full length but that is no guarantee the edge is going to be straight. Notice that lumber yards do NOT use jointers to straighten edges, they use straight line rip saws.

The jointer is good for flattening faces, but the same rules apply, if the board is more than half the total bed length there is no telling if the surface will turn out flat.

I straighten edges on the TS by using a very long straight fence. Works great.

Once it is straight, I can see where the jointer would produce a much smoother edge for the glue up. But for straightening long boards? Nah.

[Mel Fulks]

Ted, the condition shown in your drawing is often addressed (or dressed) by jointing with with one end of board a few inches onto outfeed then repeating with material reversed, then another pass. Certainly small jointers can make it hard to do large boards,but even those can work well after careful ,and often dificult adjusting. The crudeness of some small machine adjustments can be a trial.