Cherry Chore

yes you should just glue them. the glue is stronger than the wood. unless you are doing something where you have a 3/4” 4 inch long spline then you are not adding much strength with the tongue and groove. also since the stock you bought is s4s it is probably not flat enough for you to get a nice joint with tongue and groove router bits. it will be pretty sloppy and won’t do ya any good. so just glue em.

Teenagewoodworker….Why would you think S4S material would not be flat? S4S is surfaced four sides which is generally uniform in thickness but not dimensioned to finished thickness. To truly flatten a board you would have to face it on a jointer, which few of us do. If anything I would be concerned about using 12” wide material for such a small top. A top this size should have at least 3 pieces and probably 4 with alternating grain. The problem with tongue and groove material for countertops is the exposed joinery on the ends, unless you have breadboard ends, but that is whole other can of worms. For this small top I would joint the edges and glue, alternating grain. Use plenty of clamps but don’t overtighten. Trust the glue! I agree with Teenagewoodworker that the glue is stronger than the wood. Use bisquits if you have the machine. Cherry is similar to birch but the grain is usually straighter. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake, we’ve all been there!

-- Don, Pittsburgh

Thanks. Darn I thought bigger is better on the tops. This is the second time I went to a real wood supply place and not home depot so Im new to learning the lingo – s4s is one of the new things I learned this trip – and it is a Perfect Board I kind of dont want to cut it. Haha.

Can you explain alternating grain? I think its too late on this one but also why?

Trust me on this, S4S is not all perfect it’s been known to twist and bend after you get it home. If I was doing it I’d let it acclimate to the shop humidity for a week or so before doing any cutting, then the jointer and then planer right before the assembly and assemble it right away because it may before deformed if you leave it out for a day.. My 2 cents.

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

I agree with John Gray – let it acclimate and then joint and glue it. If you can, use biscuits; they help align the joint, and offer a little more strength, without the visible appearance of a spline.

-- Death before dishonour; nothing before coffee

Thanks guys. Im afraid Im a noob when it comes to this. I own a planer but without two straight edges how do I plane it correctly? I can joint the thin side on the router table but the flat side is outside of my shops capability. Should I still plane it?

Its been aclimating in my house for a week.

Is it worth it to cut the 1×12 in half length wise? and use more than two sections for the top as John Newton was describing or should I just use it as is? I cant afford anymore wood or a jointer at this time.

sorry Don (not John)

Since it is already s4s, I would suggest biscuits….simply because it really helps to align the peices during glue-up. If it were rough (4/4) then I probably wouldn’t use biscuits. But, then you’d have to have the planer to run it through, or hand plane it flat.

s4s does not guarantee flatness, but, it is to dimension already.

Cut in half lengthwise = rip…..don’t know about that. I’ve seen some pretty flat wide boards. Using narrower peices doesn’t guarantee anything either (but probably helps hedge your bet.) You’ll just have to guess like the rest of us whether the wood will remain stable or not.

Anyone that can look at a board and say, with certainty, what it will do is a salesman.

-- arborial reconfiguration specialist

My 2cents, which may only be worth a penny and a half: Set the boards you want to glue in position beside each other on your bench. See if the glue joints will be full of gaps. At this point you know if you want to joint them. If they seem flat enough, (check each one for cups and twists) glue them. The only way to know what you want to do is check before doing each process. I always need to straighten each edge before gluing.

-- Berta in NC