Jointing wide edges

[Phil Mueller]

Given your "edge" is 3" wide, you are essentially face planning. Your plane iron is less than the full width of the "edge" so you'll need to approach it a bit differently than typical edge jointing. I'll assume the edges also aren't way out of square.

The cambered iron is ideal IMO, because you can run the center of the plane over the high areas and it will inherently taper off. Set the depth of the iron so that the outside edges don't cut at all. Then, for example, if the left side is high, center the plane on the left edge...that will remove more material down the left side and naturally taper the cut towards the center.

Per suggestions above, check for twist with winding sticks and work the high areas with the plane centered on the high spots. Say you find the right near and left far corners are high. Center the plane on the right near corner and run a cut stopping short of the end. Then center the plane on the left side about a foot beyond the left near corner and run a cut through the far high corner. Repeat checking with winding sticks.

Much easier her to do than explain...just another suggestion to consider.

[Trevor Goodwin]

Thanks Phil.

What about match planing? Could I plane two edges together, treating them as a single face, or will this be more trouble because of the size?

[Phil Mueller]

Counter to my first post, I don't think you'll have much luck match planing given it will be a 6" surface. It works best with a straight edge iron that is wide enough to go across both edges. You will likely need to treat these separately.

I know you wanted to do this without a machine, but you also mentioned the pieces were thickness planed. If you have access to a thickness planer, you could try match planing through it. Clamp the ends in the middle (keep the clamps from hitting the cutters) and run them through. Scribble a pencil mark all over the surface to let you know that the entire surface of both have been planned.

By the way - you probably know this - but when you line all these up, be sure you have all the grain running in the same direction. Makes it much easier to flatten the top after the glue up. I'd suggest running a plane down each one to confirm. I miss read a few of mine and it makes flattening the top without tear out challenging.

[Pat Barry]

I don't see a good way to do this except to use a slightly cambered iron and workk one edge at a time slowly and carefully as Brian suggested earlier. When you have two mating edges you can put them together and look for gaps and then tweak the highspots to bring both boards into alignment before gluing. By the time you get these edges finished you will have mastered the skill. An alternative of course is to find someone with the equipment (powered jointer) that will get the job done quickly so you can move on. This shouldn't be a costly thing to get done especially if one face on each board is already true. You will need a good fit of the boards before glue-up since you don't want to be trying to muscle out gaps with clamps. As far as clamps go, you can go to HD and get some (4) relatively cheap pipe clamps and a few 4ft sections of 3/4" black pipe and get the job done pretty easily, especially if the boards fit together nicely. I would certainly clamp only one joint at a time though.

[Robert Engel]

What Brian, Steve & Derek said + I would add

1. Patience
2. Check with winding sticks and straight edge every few strokes.
3. Be sure to mark places you want to plane.

I used a 6' level for a straight edge and winding sticks when I built the top for my bench.

When jointing the edges, I also found shining a light under the straight edge quite handy to detect low spots.

I would add that once you get everything flat and planar, let the beams rest a day or two and recheck everything before the glue up.
If something has changed, I would repeat the process 1 or 2 more times. Really importing to have very stable wood with material this massive.
I've seen stresses in the wood make a twist or bow re-appear overnight.

Good luck!

[Mark Gibney]

I don't know your location, but here in Los Angeles (and I'm sure close to most urban areas in the US) I can find pipe clamps fairly cheaply on craigslist. You can resell them later.

Pipe clamps are strong. You'll have much more control bringing boards together with clamps than with screws or bolts.

[Trevor Goodwin]

I'm in Tasmania.

The timber is well seasoned and has been sitting in my garage for 6 months so it should be stable.

Looks like I'll be buying a straight edge and making some winding sticks this weekend...

[Jim Huelskoetter]

I made my bench from 2 maple planks that were just shy of 16/4. I clamped them together as if match planing and planed as if facing a board. It was my first project hand planing so didn't take any great skill. I used a #7 with no camber on blade and needed a few attempts but came out pretty well.

[Glen Canaday]

Yes, the camber suggestions above are pretty much the way I'd go. None of my jointers (why I have so many I don't really know) have a straight grind on the iron.

I'd glossed over the detail that they were 3" thick when I suggested spring joints. That would take king kong clamps to close up; careful jointing is probably the best bet.

The suggestion to watch the grain runout on the surface that should eventually be on top is also sage advice. I didn't do this so while the top of mine is nice enough, it is not exactly furniture grade.

[Jim Koepke]

Someone once suggested a bit of sand scattered in the glue at glue up helps to control slipping at the joint.

jtk

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I'm not going to use clamps for gluing the top together because I realized I'd need to spend hundreds of dollars on long clamps that I won't use very again.

Where do you live Trevor Goodwin? If it is close to Columbus, Ohio, you can probably borrow some of my pipe clamps. Not saying that you should not use the screws, just that if you are close you can borrow some clamps.

[Jim Koepke]

A great thing about pipe clamps is they can be reconfigured to any length one can cut pipe. I even bought a second hand 3/4" NPT die to thread pieces of scrap pipe.

jtk