Need advice joining wide boards

[scsmith42]

Kevin, you should have been here last night. I milled a couple of dozen RR ties for the museum. Offbearing those was a real joy...


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[scsmith42]

Frank,
The TS 75 will do what you need done.
I have one and also a 16' guide rail.
Bring your slabs some Saturday, and I'll show you how it works.
Rick

^^^^^
Winner!!!




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[F Seaman Unique Woodcuts]

Thanks so much Rich, I will take you up on that in a couple of weeks !
Scott, how far are you from Rich? Sounds like a road trip.

Update from Franks place

I wasn't thinking clearly about recutting the kerf on my Lucas. It will only cut 8 inches wide, so I cannot move the blade far enough over to work. For those of you not familiar with a swingmill this might not make any sense, but it rules out that option. So we are back to using some other tool.
I went ahead and glued up some maple, the edges are not perfect, and I expect it to bust apart really.

Is a glue joint strong enough for something this heavy, it is a 2 1/2 in joint.?
Think I will have to spline these big pieces?
Pics of the glue up

 

[scsmith42]

Frank, your glue up looks good! I'm about two and a half hours from Rick's place. He's just north of Charlotte in Mooresville.

Either Titebond III or West system epoxy would be my first choice for glue, and most likely Titebond III. For big stuff like this I prefer Titebond III over II due to the longer working time of III.

 

[CrealBilly]

This may sound stupid easy but when joining wide boards like this I just snap a caulk line, take a skill saw and free hand cut the line. do the same on both boards. I could care less about perfection at this point as long as I can get it good enough to temporally edge glue the boards together. Once the glue is dry I rip right down the glue joint and re-glue the boards back together. I know it sounds stupid easy but has worked very well for me in the past... and even if the rip is not perfect straight or the blade angle is a little off both board edges are mirror images of each other. Just go slow on the rip and with a good carbide tipped blade, the edges should come out good enough to glue together. Not as near as good as a jointer mind you... but close enough for government work.

I just thought i would toss this out there to chew on...

 

[scsmith42]

Great idea Jeff!


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[F Seaman Unique Woodcuts]

That's is a good idea Jeff. Basically that is what I thought I would do with the sawmill.

 

[Jeff]

Yep, that idea is "stupid easy" but simple in concept. We often overlook the obvious and over think the solution.

The glue up looks good. At 2.5" t that's a lot of surface area and may be strong enough as is. How "gappy" is the glue joint? I can't tell from the pics.

How about some 3/4"-1" t butterflies for added strength if that appearance is acceptable? Epoxy (West System; 105 resin, 206 hardener, 20 min open time) dries clear and also has excellent gap filling properties. Step 2 could simply be filling the existing glue line gaps without resawing. :icon_scra

 

[JimD]

splines or biscuits in the joint are more for alignment than strength. A good butt joint is stronger than the wood. I think the glue, cut, and re-glue idea is good but I would use come kind of straightedge still. My free-hand circular skills are so-so.

 

[CrealBilly]

That's is a good idea Jeff. Basically that is what I thought I would do with the sawmill.

There you go... pass the blade through the glue line nice and slow. If you do try it with the sawmill please let us know how it comes out. I've not tried with my woodmizer but I don't see why it wouldn't work with a good cutting blade, like Monkfors (aka monkey blades).

 

[F Seaman Unique Woodcuts]

I keep trying to post this and the puter erases my post, I am about to toss it out the window!

Here are pics of the finished tabletops, and a video of the planer if I can load it.

Sawmill sanding maple top




Tops planed and sanded





We ran the walnut across a friends 8 in joiner, took three of us. It worked, but is not the answer to the problem.
I bought the Dewalt router at Lowes, so I can use it to clean edges and learn how to do butterflys.
I will put up a new thread when I do the butterflys, I will need some advice there also I am sure.
I will try to put the planer video on youtube and link it here.

Thanks for all your help !
Frank

 

[blakeyon2asd]

Looks good!

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

Nice work. You can buy inlay kits for routers that make the process of installing butterflies easier. Of course they aren't needed, but they simplify the process.

http://www.amazon.com/Solid-Brass-Router-Inlay-Whiteside/dp/B0012JI6HM

 

[CrealBilly]

book matched boards are where its at. The set on the right has a bit of a cartoon face - complete with eyes and eyebrows

 

[F Seaman Unique Woodcuts]

My wife noticed the eyebrows also, that is my two boys faces in the holes.
Now that I am working on gluing, I will be looking a lot harder for book match slabs.

Some logs can be cut to get better bookends.
Frank

 

[Jeff]

Wow, those look darn good. Did you resaw the original glue line and then reglue or were the original gaps acceptable? The boys sure add perspective and dimension to that slab.

Some logs can be cut to get better bookends.

Here's a new walnut flitch slideshow that'll whet your appetite as you search for that perfect log.

http://www.hearnehardwoods.com/flitch/walnut/b1415-b1426.walnut/flitch.html

Butterflies are fun but they'll play with your head in the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld6HI7g_U6Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLQkk-x5CeI

 

[cpowell]

Pretty work - those look great!

 

[F Seaman Unique Woodcuts]

Jeff, I did not recut the glueline. So far they are great, a little gap in the maple you can see in the sanding picture.
Frank

 

[atun]

looking great! i also had similar problem recently.