# Best way to straighten edge of 12'x12" redwood planks?



## OakFox (Apr 24, 2020)

I recently purchased four 12 foot length by 12 inch wide redwood lumber. I am creating a table top with the planks and I wanted to get some opinions about the best way to make a straight edge to join them together.

I own a small table saw and electric hand planer, but I dont have a planer machine for the edge. Due to the length, I am a bit weary of cutting 12 feet on my table saw. I was thinking the best way was to put a 12 foot straight edge, which I have, and clamp it on the end to straighten each piece. Thoughts on this or advice? Thank you.


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## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

*will this be an outside or inside table ??*
a pic-nic table or a dining room table ?
I was assuming it was 2x lumber (1.5" thick) - how thick are the boards?

with limited workspace and tools, it will be a struggle to do this.
will the table be 12 feet long ?
when I had my sign shop, jointing the edges of 2x redwood was a 
daily norm for sandblasted signs.
I had a very accurate outfeed table for the jointer (that was bolted to the floor) 
and it took a minimum of two experienced people to do that.
even if you use a Track Saw, it will be a challenge. another method would
be to use an accurate straight edge clamped to the board and run a router
down the length with a 2" bit.
there are several methods to do this - but it takes the correct tools, a lot of space 
and experienced people.

*a little more information about your circumstances and the project itself will help*

.


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## BlueRidgeDog (Jan 2, 2019)

As in glue-up quality straight or straight enough for a outdoor bench/table type of thing?

Firstly I would cut them to desired length plus a few inches. From there you can use the table saw method for joining, or a track saw, or simply strike a line and use a hand saw then clean up with your hand planner. If I had to do this by hand I would toss the electric plane and get a #7 or similar hand plan and take my time.


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

At 12' in length, your best option is to use the hand planer. I like to break any project into one of 2 groups, bring the work to the tool, as in a project sized to safely run on a table saw, or bring the tool to the work, as you have here.

Instead of learning on the Redwood, I'd suggest getting something in a 2×4 pine, Fir, Spruce type of wood, and practice, until you felt you got a glue joint ready edge.

Some might snicker, but I know a guy who does this, and some would say he does pretty OK work. His front page would make you think he only uses hand planes, but he uses an electric hand planer, as designed for dressing stair treads to edge wood.

Your other option is to have a cabinet shop do the edge jointing for you. But John nailed it, if this table has to be 12' long, that isn't just a little bit of work, and without a stationary jointer, will be all the more tricky..


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## tvrgeek (Nov 19, 2013)

Chalk line and a hand plane.


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

Had to do Trim Rafters one year,,, Boss wanted the crown flattened out (???) so…blue chalk line, and the circular saw, and buzzed the offending crown off…Dumb.

Snap a line to show where the "bulge" is…plane or saw it off. Grain in the wood will just curve again….

Maybe match up the curves to make the panel first….THEN address the curves….once the panel is assembled…snap a line down both edges, trim as needed.


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## Unknowncraftsman (Jun 23, 2013)

This is a very common question I've read on this forum. The Op really should have already had a plan before he bought the wood.
The good news is it's only Redwood. I remember a while back someone bought 2 k worth of walnut with the same problem.
The era of the pandemic woodworker has begun.


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## WoodenDreams (Aug 23, 2018)

Two months ago I did this for a customer, a 13' long countertop and a 18' long bench out of redwood. First pick out only the straightest and flatest redwood boards from the bundles in the lumberyard (takes time to check out all the redwood in the bundles and restack what you didn't pick). I planed one face side to remove the round-over edges. Set the boards in the order for aesthetics. Layed them together marked a line to align the matching, then hand planed and spokeshaved them to get to get a no-gap match. after I got a no-gap match, I turned the lights off in the room and used a flashlight to check for light going through the joints to double check for no gaps, marked where I needed to shave off with plane or spokeshave, and repeated till no light showed through the joints. Glued up the bench sections and half sections of the countertop in my shop. Delivered the sections to the job site for final assembly-glue ups-sealing the redwood with two coat of triple coat poly-and applied a epoxy tabletop finish.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

You could find a local shop that will mill them straight for you.

How far out of straight are they? Are they rough or have they already been milled relatively straight initially? If rough, for first pass, look for an example of a straightedge jig that uses a MDF factory milled trim board on a thin plywood base. MDF trim will probably be the closest to perfectly straight you will find. The challenge may be to find one long enough. As long as it is close and there aren't any major divots, you may find you can pull them together with clamps. If not, you may have to use a hand plane to fix any problems area (practice on some other boards first if you have never done that). Note that your next problem is getting enough clamps to effectively pull them together for a strong joint. Enough clamps may cost you more than the lumber.


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## anneb3 (Feb 23, 2014)

Time to buy a router. Use your straight edge , clamp just far enough so router bit just trims edge . to do other side take a little more math. Measure from other edge, rout as necessary.

Notice spend the money for a carbide bit. Now that you have a router it will do all sorts of tasks. Resist the urge to buy sets of bits. Buy ones you need, when you need them


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## BuckeyeDennis (Mar 24, 2019)

The board edges don't have to be perfectly straight, they simply need to be perfectly matched. Here's a good video on how to do that with a track saw. Basically, you clamp up two mating boards side by side. Then run a cutting tool down the seam between them, takIng a little of material off of each workpiece. Assuming that the kerf is constant, the pieces will mate up perfectly - even if the cutter is not perfectly square to the surface.






You could probably adapt the technique to use a reasonably straight edge guide, with either a router or a circular saw doing the cutting. I'm thinking that a router would be the better choice of the two.


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## Unknowncraftsman (Jun 23, 2013)

That's a awesome looking bench WoodenDreams. Very cool


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## WoodenDreams (Aug 23, 2018)

This was sort off a pain in the but, because the customer didn't want sanding (wading dust) done in the lodge dining room area. So had to hand scrape in instead of sanding on location. The benches has no legs, just redwood support framing lag screwed into the wall. They wanted to be able to sweep and mop without legs being in the way.


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## Sylvain (Jul 23, 2011)

solutions with hand tools:

- a plane and 
1. https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/videos/edge-jointing-techniques/
2. https://paulsellers.com/knowledge-base/edge-joining/
(free membership possible)

- the technique suggested by BuckeyeDennis but with a hand saw:
2nd and 3rd picture here:
http://blog.douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com/2019/04/2019-bates-college-short-term.html
no guide needed, so the perfect mating doesn't necessarily mean a perfect straight joint.


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## Sylvain (Jul 23, 2011)

two board mating in video:
https://www.apprenticeshop.org/latest-news/2019/11/26/bending-with-fire

jump at 1'14"


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## Unknowncraftsman (Jun 23, 2013)

Sylvain the op is making a table not a boat. In the states we use a machine called a jointer. I'm sure he's looked at plenty of YouTube videos. 
After still falling short newcomers will often ask for personal experience that we share on LJ.
For the op your answer is a jointer the longer the better. The Us made the finest woodworking machines in the world until China and India took over. 
But they can still be found. If you start your planning today you'll be ready for the next pandemic









Good Luck


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## Sylvain (Jul 23, 2011)

AJ2

The board mating with sawing is perfectly applicable to the table-top jointing as illustrated by the video suggested by BuckeyeDennis (comment #10).
I have used this technique for another purpose and it was not boat building. 
Even if OakFox doesn't use this technique, it might be useful for other readers.

"The Us made the finest woodworking machines in the world". I guess a few European countries and Japan have made excellent machines also.
If I needed one, there is a good Belgian one:
https://robland.com/en/product/planer-j510/

- I have a very small shop ( 2.5 X 4 m) where there is no room for machinery.
- I find satisfaction in acquiring new hand skills;
- woodworking is a hobby for me.
- I don't find satisfaction in the acquisition of goods.
- small is beautiful.
YMMV


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