Thicknessing and Jointing

[ScaredyCat]

Just a quickie really, I know you joint a face and a side and then pass the unjointed face through the thicknesser, but if the board is; for example 220mm x 22mm you wouldn't pass that second edge through the thicknesser, right? It'd be unstable. So, I understand you can take the board to a table saw, use the jointed edge against the fence to make sure the two edges are parallel but then wouldn't that edge have saw marks on it and wouldn't really be jointed? Would you do the table saw cut and then go back to the jointer for a couple of really light passes to actually joint the final edge? Everywhere says you only joint one edge/face but if you're going to join 3 boards, one of them needs jointing on both edges, right?

Just in case that's not clear, is this the appropriate process?:

• 
  1. Joint face 1.
  2. Joint edge 1.
  3. Pass board through thicknesser, jointed face down and plane face 2
  4. Place edge 1 against table saw fence, trim edge 2 to make it parallel to edge 1
  5. Joint edge 2

I appreciate some of you might say 'by hand' but I'm interested in the machining process.

 

[paulrockliffe]

If you put it through the table saw you won't guarantee the two thin edges are coplanar, it'll reference off the wider face that's on the table top.

You would do it on a joiner rather than the table saw.

 

[PAC1]

I would "Plane" (in UK we have a Planer not a Jointer) a face and edge. Then depending on how much waste there is either saw to within 2mm and then run under thicknesser to size or just thickness to size.
If you saw the face and edge and then plane it there is no guarantee the reult would be parallel to the face and edge first planed.

 

[Brandlin]

Scaredy cat - your process is correct. but it is also dependent on good setting of the table saw blade to be perpendicular to the table and the fence parallel to the blade.

paulrockliffe - the issue scaredy cat is asking about is how you get the two edges coplanar, you cant do that on the jointer alone. By jointing edge 1> face1> edge 2 you will get edges that are square to the face, but the two edges wont necessarily be parallel ie the board is likely to be tapered in width.

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

ScaredyCat, The process you describe is fine. Personally I would hand plane the edges to be jointed clamped together after the planer to assure a smooth gluing edge and fine tune the joint, but what you describe will be fine.

Paulfockliffe, I don't understand what you are saying here. The planed face will be the reference for the edges on a planer or a table saw, if both edges are square in relation to the face and they are straight then they are fine.

I also have another method that I use when I am away from the workshop, using a track saw. Put two pieces of timber (eg. 3x2 or 4x2) across a flat surface and hot glue your boards to the timber making sure that they are laying flat with the cut edges butted up to each other. Place the track so the blade cuts both board edges in one cut. Any saw marks or deviation from square will be mirrored on each edge, in a similar fashion to hand planning the 2 boards clamped together in the vice.. As long as your blade is sharp this can be glued straight from the saw. This is not the "proper" way and I only use it when I am away from my bench and planer thicknesser, but it does work very well

 

[kevinlightfoot]

Process 5 in your list could easily be done with a number 5 plane ,if the edge is square from the saw a couple of swipes should be all that is needed.As has already been said just make sure the saw blade is set square to the table.

 

[MikeG.]

........paulrockliffe - the issue scaredy cat is asking about is how you get the two edges coplanar, you cant do that on the jointer alone. By jointing edge 1> face1> edge 2 you will get edges that are square to the face, but the two edges wont necessarily be parallel ie the board is likely to be tapered in width.

I'd argue that unless you are miraculously lucky with your choice of timber, there will always be some flattening necessary by hand before taking the timber anywhere near a planer or thicknesser. Therefore, it should be taken as read that even the most machine-dependent woodworker uses a plane as part of their stock preparation. So, if there is no table saw, it is natural to run a marking gauge from the reference edge to mark out a parallel for the other edge, and plane (by hand) to this. Finish off on the machine if you must.

 

[custard]

I appreciate some of you might say 'by hand' but I'm interested in the machining process.

Your working methods are of course entirely your decision, and for sheet goods work a 100% machine centric approach is perfectly viable. But just in case there are impatient newbies reading this, and thinking they can substitute cheap machinery for skills; when it comes to traditional solid timber work, then please understand that you can't.

Edge jointing narrow boards into one wider board is the fundamental woodworking joint. On an apprenticeship lesson one is sharpening, lesson two is squaring and truing a board, and lesson three is edge jointing. Doing all this accurately, consistently, and efficiently using only hand tools develops the skills necessary for many other woodworking challenges, often challenges where a power tool can't help you. In fact, even with top quality machinery on hand, for first class work you'll always take a final skimming cut with a hand plane when edge jointing. Maybe you'll be working the precise spring that you want, or removing the slight scalloping that a planer always leaves, or cleaning the oxidised surface if the boards have sat for more than a couple of days, or correcting a tiny inaccuracy from the machinery, or removing a trace of snipe. Until you gain the skill and confidence in your hands to do that with a bench plane then you'll never really make much progress.

Just my opinion of course, but an opinion based on forty years of both hobbyist and professional woodworking.

 

[Just4Fun]

I'd argue that unless you are miraculously lucky with your choice of timber, there will always be some flattening necessary by hand before taking the timber anywhere near a planer or thicknesser.

Can you write more about this?
After decades of hand tool use I have recently gained access to a planer, thicknesser and table saw which I have been using to (roughly) dimension my timber. I have received no instruction in the use of these machines and so I am making it up as I go along. It has not entered my head to flatten any boards by hand before using the machines and I don't understand why I should do so. Can you enlighten me?

 

[Mr T]

I'd argue that unless you are miraculously lucky with your choice of timber, there will always be some flattening necessary by hand before taking the timber anywhere near a planer or thicknesser.

Can you write more about this?
After decades of hand tool use I have recently gained access to a planer, thicknesser and table saw which I have been using to (roughly) dimension my timber. I have received no instruction in the use of these machines and so I am making it up as I go along. It has not entered my head to flatten any boards by hand before using the machines and I don't understand why I should do so. Can you enlighten me?

I must admit I am also little confused Mike. In many years of both hand and machine woodwork I can't think of a situation where I have had to hand plane a piece before taking it to the planer.

I appreciate some of you might say 'by hand' but I'm interested in the machining process.

Your working methods are of course entirely your decision, and for sheet goods work a 100% machine centric approach is perfectly viable. But just in case there are impatient newbies reading this, and thinking they can substitute cheap machinery for skills; when it comes to traditional solid timber work, then please understand that you can't.

Edge jointing narrow boards into one wider board is the fundamental woodworking joint. On an apprenticeship lesson one is sharpening, lesson two is squaring and truing a board, and lesson three is edge jointing. Doing all this accurately, consistently, and efficiently using only hand tools develops the skills necessary for many other woodworking challenges, often challenges where a power tool can't help you. In fact, even with top quality machinery on hand, for first class work you'll always take a final skimming cut with a hand plane when edge jointing. Maybe you'll be working the precise spring that you want, or removing the slight scalloping that a planer always leaves, or cleaning the oxidised surface if the boards have sat for more than a couple of days, or correcting a tiny inaccuracy from the machinery, or removing a trace of snipe. Until you gain the skill and confidence in your hands to do that with a bench plane then you'll never really make much progress.

Just my opinion of course, but an opinion based on forty years of both hobbyist and professional woodworking.

I agree that complete competency with a hand plane is the sine qua non of good work but I don't think the OP was dismissing it, just asking what the best process is for getting a jointable edge form the P/T. His approach is very similar to mine perhaps with a very light hand shaving when the edges come off the machine.

Chris