straight-line rip of long boards on cabinet saw - looking for ideas

[Rich Engelhardt]

Forty years agi, I straightened one edge of long walnut boards by burying a small part of the table saw blade in a cove board attached to the rip fence. You can safely remove almost an eigth of an inch in a pass. It goes quickly and you can sneak up on a straight line just like you would on a jointer.

Prior to getting my jointer, that's exactly what I did. You can Google it and find detailed instructions on setting it up.
It's clumsy and takes a lot of time and effort to keep things all going straight though - but - it's simple and straight forward.

Can you possibly use a router and straight edge of some kind? I picked up a bearing bit from Lowes for something I had going on a few years ago. It's 2 maybe 2.5" - plenty long enough for 5/4.

(FWIW - personally, I'd use my track saw. I know you said you don't want one, but, it sure is nice for these odd ball things. I'm always at somewhat of a loss to come up with something other than breaking down sheet goods when someone asks about a track saw.
This is one of those rare jobs where a track saw would be the perfect tool. It would do all 8 of those boards in 20 to 30 min and leave a perfect edge.
& do it almost effortlessly.
I don't want to sound like I'm rubbing it in or anything. I only mention it in case someone else runs into the same situation and runs across this thread.)

[Yonak Hawkins]

A jointer will work.

I agree. It's the easiest and quickest way I know of.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Scott -

I have an 8' x 16" ply sled with a runner for the miter gauge slot on the TS. Inset tee-track running across it - holds destaco clamps or those clever bar-and-knob clamps from rockler. Stable enough to easily overhang the ends by any reasonable dimension - most of the rgh lumber I get is 14' +/-.

However - I have gotten better over the years and now will usually put a straight-ish line down the board, and run it thru the BS. Not a finished edge, but darn close enough - so that I can go to the jointer and clean it up in a couple-three passes. Faster, no setup, less unwieldy than my ply TS jig. Plus - aftet the TS jig, my next stop is always the jointer anyway.

If I have a bunch to do, I am likely to pull down the jig. Otherwise - I go to the BS.

You don't have to be great at following a straight line on the BS, you just have to get past the "lousy" skill level, and land somewhere near "mediocre."

[Art Mann]

What I am about to say is pretty obvious but maybe it will help. I seldom if ever need a 10 foot long board. I just don't do any projects that require that kind of length. What I do is crosscut the board to roughly the length required and then use my table saw or jointer on that piece. My smallish 6 inch jointer will put a precision straight edge on a 3 or 5 foot long board without difficulty. I am just suggesting you take another look at what you need and how to get there.

[Max Neu]

Do your boards need to be 10' long? If not, cut them down to shorter lengths, then you can use any of the methods suggested.

[scott vroom]

I've been using incorrect terminology for describing the boards. I've been saying they were bowed when in fact they're ever so slightly crooked. They are neither bowed, cupped or twisted. in fact they appear perfectly flat and may not require any face jointing. Sorry for the confusion.

My entire focus with this thread is removing the crook from the rough lumber via straight lining and then finishing with edge jointing. Several posters have suggested using a jointer to remove crook but I don't see how that's physically possible with 10' boards on a 6' jointer bed. Roller stands won't be of any use in my situation. Once the crooked board reaches the end of the jointer table it will begin dropping below the jointer bed hence changing the plane of the trailing 7' of crooked board. If I'm missing something i'd love to hear specifically how you do this on your jointer. As far as I can see, straight lining on a saw has to be the first step in straightening crooked rough lumber.

Kent, I presently don't have a bandsaw in my shop so will use a TS sled as others have suggested (we're moving to central Oregon next year when my wife retires and I'll be moving out of my current cracker box shop to a 1,200 sq foot space and will be adding a sliding TS, bandsaw and belt sanders, and will be upgrading from my router table to a decent shaper). I guess that last bit was off topic

[scott vroom]

Do your boards need to be 10' long? If not, cut them down to shorter lengths, then you can use any of the methods suggested.

The desktop slab will be 9' long finished; I want to mill 10' boards to allow for removal of the inevitable snipe I get when planning long boards.

[Larry Copas]

Years ago there was an article in FWW about a rip sled with a runner to fit in the miter slot of a table saw. Wasn't much to build one so I made one 16' long. Needed two roller stands on each side of the saw. No clamps required and it was as fast as standard ripping. I would do a 1,000 bf in an afternoon. With a good blade and taking my time I could get an edge ready for glue. If you can find the article...

Cheap and dirty a piece of 1/4” X 2” X 10' steel for a straight edge along with a circular saw will work. I just checked at my local steel supplier and it will sit you back $9.50 plus tax. That steel bar is plenty straight for most woodworking uses.

Like some of the others, I would just use the jointer unless the piece was really heavy.

[Mel Fulks]

I find it easier without stands unless material is impossibly heavy. Decide which edge you prefer to joint . If it is the convex start the board with the end over the head resting on out feed table. Set depth of cut at a little less than what you
estimate the defect dimension . Run with pressure on out feed side ignoring infeed end. Repeat as needed ,then take a light finish cut in ordinary manner. For concave edge you can drop wood over head to aprox middle of board and cut holding
down on infeed table . Turn board around and run other end. Then repeat with regular pass with pressure on out feed table.

[Bill Huber]

I did this once a long time ago, I had a 2"x10"x12' board for a deck that needed to be cut down to 6" wide.

I made a chalk line on it for my circular saw and then screwed some 1"x4"s on the chalk line for a fence for the circular saw.
It worked out fine but I am not sure it would work for you problem.

[Max Neu]

I don't think it would be that hard to make a 10' straight edge.Just take an 8' long piece of plywood that has a straight edge, square one end up, then pocket hole another piece about 30" to it.You can check the edge by the splice with another 8' straight edge, make adjustments to get it straight if needed.Then you can use it for a rigged up track saw.

[Don Parker]

I would make friends with somebody local who owns a track saw and borrow it for this limited project. my DeWalt track saw tracks can be bolted together, end to end, to make one very long track, making it the ideal tool for this task.

[scott vroom]

I ended up with a Mickey Mouse but effective solution: 1" L brackets, one at the front and 1 at the rear holding the board to the MDF sled. Flip the board over and straight line the other side....done. The edge with the 2 screw holess will be hidden in the glue up. Total set up time: less than 5 mins.

[Keith Weber]

A jointer will work.

I agree. It's the easiest and quickest way I know of.

Unless you consider a 10-foot slider - quicker AND easier!

[Kent A Bathurst]

Kent, I presently don't have a bandsaw in my shop so will use a TS sled as others have suggested (we're moving to central Oregon next year when my wife retires and I'll be moving out of my current cracker box shop to a 1,200 sq foot space and will be adding a sliding TS, bandsaw and belt sanders, and will be upgrading from my router table to a decent shaper). I guess that last bit was off topic

Yeah, well, my friend -

At which point you get an official You Suck from me.

I remember when you first showed up here and went down this rabbet hole some years back, and had a zillion+ questions. And now look at you.

Good on ya, brudda.