Dealing with a big board

[Dan Stuewe]

I have a home project that I need help with. We’ve been remodeling/redecorating for most of the year and we’re just about there. We installed wainscot in our dining room and entryway that will be topped with a painted plate rail (a high chair rail). My problem area is a knee wall (that is what we’ve been told it is called) that separates the entry from the dining room. We want to cap this wall off with the same profile as the plate rail. Here are the options I’ve come up with…

1. get one board (5/4 poplar 13” wide x 11’ long) route profile on my skimpy router table
2. glue up two or three boards to get correct size, route profile…
3. route profile on two boards and glue them up (maybe with one filler board in between)

The negatives to option 1 are the expense of a board that big, milling the profile on my router table and potential instability in the wood over the years. For option 2 milling the profile is the same as 1 and I’ve never been totally thrilled with glue-ups I’ve done for much smaller boards and since this will be a painted (off white) horizontal board, imperfections might shout out. For option 3 the only negative glue-up issues that may be compounded by the profile on the edge. I should also note, I don’t have enough clamps to feel good about this size of a glue-up (and while for my wife the excuse that buying a tool - aka stamp/scrapbook accessory/… - for one project with potential for future use is okay, for some reason I can’t use that excuse).

Anyway, any other ideas?

Use pocket screws as clamps for a glue-up (require pocket hole jig purchase – see above)?

Just glue it up and find a friendly neighborhood cabinetmaker with a wide belt sander?

Thanks,

[Eric Apple - Central IN]

I would pop the router out of the table, and have at that large board. Of course, the depends upon having a safe profile to hand route.

The nails should hold it in place well enough to prevent warping.

As a third option, how about edging the knee wall with the plate rail ?Just drywall the top, attach the plate rail, fill, caulk, and paint.

The lumber cost should be pretty low for 2x12x12 poplar. They sell grade stamped stuff at the yards here for about 2x the price of yellow pine. Run it thru a planer and you should be good to go. Give the place you buy your wall studs from a try.

Could be a huge cost diffence between here and out in CA...

[Gord Graff]

Hi Dan,

I don't mean to minimize what you see as a problem but I don't see what all the fuss is about. If you're unsure of yourself when it comes to glue ups, then use two 7" wide 5/4 boards to make your blank from. Dealing with only one glue joint shouldn’t be a problem. The saving grace for you is the fact that you are going to paint the piece................wood filler here can go a long way to solving any problems that arise. By the way, very nice looking renovations.

All the best
Gord

[Bill Grumbine]

Hi Dan

I have some ideas for you as well. First, assuming you are going to paint it, I agree with Gord. Any kind of filler will do for you if there are small gaps here and there in the glue up. If you can find, and want to go with a large board, I wouldn't worry too much about that either. If smaller boards glued up is more economical for you, or you want to minimze any movement, and clamps are a problem, try this for a clamping method. Use a plywood surface on which to rest your boards. Nail a cleat along one edge of where the boards will go. Along the other edge, nail some tapered cleats in such a way that you can drive the mating tapers in with a mallet, forcing the boards of the glue up together.

Once they have been clamped in this fashion, you can use screws or nails to hold the tapers in place until the glue dries. You can even lay wax paper down under the joint if you are concerned about gluing the work to the substrate. (DAMHIKT) After the glue is dry, disassemble the whole affair, and use a hand held router to cut the profile. The best part is, these clamps can be made of scraps, and the plywood substrate can be used for something else in the future. Good luck with it.


Bill

[Jim Becker]

Given you're going to paint this item, I'd probably opt to use MDF for the purpose, even though the milled edges will require a little more preparation during the finishing stages.

[Rob Russell]

Dan,

Nice job on your remodelling efforts. Here's a thought for an alternate cap.

Consider using natural, clear finished wood. A single, 13" wide by 11' board with your matching edge profile would look really nice on top of that wall. It's a little tough to tell on my monitor, but maple or oak to match the other natural wood could look really sharp. The contrast between the natural top and the painted wainscoting would accentuate each other. A clear finish might stand up better than a painted surface, too. You could screw the top down and cover the screws with matching plugs cut from the scrap off the ends of the board.

Just a idea.

Rob

[Brad Schafer]

i kinda thought the same thing as JimB and Rob - if you're going to paint, why waste a nice piece of poplar? i'm not much for interior decorating, but as nice as that front entry floor looks, maybe you could put a piece down that would match the floor?

BTW - i did a glue up of a substantial plate rail/beam box a few years ago. used titebond and biscuits. built my own clamps out of scrap & screws. final product was around 18' long and 16+" wide made from red oak. a little careful plate joining and even more careful sanding turned out okay.

your remodel job looks really sharp,


b

[Todd Burch]

Like Jim Becker - a sheet of MDF for $20 and some elbow grease sealing the edges before painting and you've got a rock solid top, dead flat cap.
Take that router out of the table to route, unless you have the surface table square footage to support this length assembly. You can use wood filler or bondo at the butt joint to get 11' out of an 8' sheet. Two thicknesses would be good, stagger the butt joints.

Todd.

[Kevin Post]

Dan:

I've done this 6 or 7 times in similar situations. Since you are painting, I would recommend using either plywood or MDF because it's cheap. Like others have suggested, bondo or other wood filler will work well in hiding any imperfections. I almost always do this type of work 'in place' and have only used bondo when the house is empty because it stinks the place up.

I agree with what others have suggested about taking the router out of the table to make your profile on the MDF.

In some areas of the home where the surface might recieve more abuse or get wet, an alternative I prefer is to use plywood and edge-band with solid-wood molding. You can either make the molding or buy it. Apply it with glue and clamps or 'Norm it' with a few brads. I try to cover any edge joints in the plywood with the molding to better camoflage the joints in the surface. After everything is attached, sand, scrape or plane it flush with the surface of the plywood. Then, fill any imperfections, sand and paint.

MDF (termite barf) mills very well but the corners can be quite fragile and get mashed easily in areas where they are exposed to traffic. My rule has become, "If the corners are exposed, use plywood." Imagine someone moving a refrigerator on a dolly and bumping the corner or carrying a large box around that knee wall and hitting it on the way by. It appears, in your application, that the corners would be exposed and MDF would not be a good candidate IMHO. In my experience, MDF also requires a little more care when painting to get a finish that will protect it if it happens to get wet. I had installed something similar for a friend. He put a coat of paint on it which became damaged. It got wet when his SWMBO was watering plants, the MDF swelled and kept getting worse. MDF needs to be sealed well with an oil-based primer. I use at least two coats of paint after priming...

-Kevin

[Dan Stuewe]

Thanks everyone for the comments (and compliments, my wife and I are very happy with what we've done - for the complete picture look at micndan.com).

I may go with the MDF option. I don't know if it is available in 1-1/8" thickness, but I have plenty of 1/2" and 5/8" material available (that is what we used for the wainscot). The ends of the board won't see much action since there is a pillar at the end of the wall (see "before" picture). So I can use hardwood for that. You have given me confidence in glueing up the boards. I especially like Bill's suggestion of wedging it on a scrap sheet.

One thing I don't think I can do is use the router free-hand. I included a shot of the profile we're using and I don't think I can use it outside of a table. I have PCs new 690 with soft-start and variable speed as well as the edge guide that was coming with it lately. I may reuse the glue-up sheet and saw horses as a temporary router table to give myself 4' of infeed and outfeed. Anyother suggestions on doing it free-hand would be appriciated.

Thanks again.

[Dave Arbuckle]

My Whiteside catalog shows that bit with a diameter of 1 7/16". It's late, but I think I'd be willing to run that handheld.

I would use a guide clamped to the board. Showing how late it is, at first I was thinking an edge guide would work. Since the bit profiles the entire edge, that wouldn't be the best. I would definitely make more than one pass at it, taking off a little at a time.

I think that would be a lot easier than maneuvering such a large workpiece over the router table.

Dave

[Brad Schafer]

One thing I don't think I can do is use the router free-hand. I included a shot of the profile we're using and I don't think I can use it outside of a table. I have PCs new 690 with soft-start and variable speed as well as the edge guide that was coming with it lately. I may reuse the glue-up sheet and saw horses as a temporary router table to give myself 4' of infeed and outfeed. Anyother suggestions on doing it free-hand would be appriciated.

dan - i had to do something similar a few years back. i had a router bit with no bearing and no edge guide (long story). i also had a very long piece of half inch 1x4 pine. i used the TS to put a straight edge on the board, then measured and snapped a chalk line parallel to the edge. i then clamped the 1x4 along the chalk line (effectively making a pseudo-straight edge out of a piece of junk). it took a little time and some finagle-ing (is that a word?), but the end result was just dandy.

chalk clean up was easy with a random orbit sander.

another option would be to find a friend with a shaper/more manly router table, and haul your MDF & router bit over there.

again, the remod looks really great. good luck,


b