# jointing thick maple stock for gluing



## marinus (Mar 30, 2016)

Greetings. 
I'm pretty new to all of this, but I have two pieces of maple, about 11" wide by almost 2" thick. They are about 4 feet long. I was going to glue them together to make a table top for a kitchen work table. The boards are somewhat rough still. I was wondering what people thought the best way to get the edges ready for joining. I don't have a jointer, but I thought maybe making a jig for my table saw would work. I'm just not sure how well it will work given the thickness of the maple. Any suggestions? I also have a no. 7 plane, but I am not good with it yet. I can't seem to get it square and flat.


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## builtinbkyn (Oct 29, 2015)

Give that #7 a try. I think you'll find you'll get a lot of satisfaction from using it. Just get the blade as sharp as you can and then set it to take as little as possible. You can't go too wrong and you'll be able to correct things as you go.


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## rwe2156 (May 7, 2014)

The jig will get you a straight edge, but it will not be a jointed edge.

If the plane is usable you should be able to get a jointed edge. Spend some time getting the iron on the plane sharp and make sure of the grain direction.

If you're in over your head, then find a cabinet shop that will mill the wood for you.


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## shampeon (Jun 3, 2012)

You won't be able to glue them up until they've been prepared, which means you joint one face, one edge, then plane the opposite face parallel to the jointed face. If you try, you're going to find your board will not be flat and the glue joint will be difficult to align, etc.

Long story short, you need get the boards square and flat. You can for sure do this with a No. 7 plane and a square. But I would recommend that you make a test board with some cheaper, softer wood, like pine or douglas fir. There's a lot of info here and elsewhere on the internet about preparing rough boards with hand planes, so I won't repeat it here.

But once the boards have been individually prep'd, fold them up like a book along the edges that you want glued. Then take your No. 7 plane to the bookmatched edge. When you "unfold" the boards, they will match, and it doesn't matter if you're off on your angles.


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