# jointing long boards



## Jeff82780 (Mar 15, 2010)

im building a workbench for my shop and need to joint some 8' 2×6's for the top. for some reason i am having a helluva time doing this. i must have ran 1 board through about 10-15 time to get bthe face flat. I am noticing that the first half of my board is jointing good, but the last 3'ft or so is not jointing. i dont know what the problem is? anyone have any ideas? i have about 15 more boards to joint and at this rate i wont be done till next winter.

thanks, Jeff


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## TCCcabinetmaker (Dec 14, 2011)

sounds like you need to flip them over, you are attempting to joint the wrong side. When you try to joint the crown, rather than the cup, unless you are extremely good, you will pretty much just follow the arch of the crown.


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## jmos (Nov 30, 2011)

Another possibility is your outfeed support, if the leading end of the board drops even a slight bit the lagging end will be off the cutters.


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## Jeff82780 (Mar 15, 2010)

i am jointing the cupped side. cr1- some of the board gets jointed at the end, but not the whole face. I draw lines across the board to make sure everyhting is getting jointed but that last 3 feet or so some of the board has some of the lines left.


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## Manitario (Jul 4, 2010)

I've found it very very difficult to joint anything much longer than my jointer tables. As John put it, you have to have the outfeed support exactly aligned with your jointer table or you'll end up with a wedge shaped board.


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## 8iowa (Feb 7, 2008)

I only have a 4" jointer, yet I have successfully jointed and glued the edges of boards 100 inches long. I have two Rockler Heavy Duty "flip top" roller stands. Using a Veritas 50" aluminum straightedge, I zero in the rollers dead flat with the infeed and outfeed tables. Actually, this set-up is faster and easier than one would think. This method works!


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## glassyeyes (Apr 14, 2009)

If PART of the end of the board is getting jointed, then it sound like you haven't taken enough wood off. A twisted board will behave like that, as opposed to cupped, crowned, or bowed. Do you have winding sticks to check for twist? It wouldn't take much on boards of this length.


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## DaleM (Feb 18, 2009)

8iowa is exactly right. You have to support the outfeed especially. I made a quick image to show what I think is happening. Gravity of course is pulling down the unsupported board and your hand is holding down the other end, so of course that means the middle is bowing up with the end of the table as the fulcrum, leaving a gap above the cutter. You won't notice it hardly at all jointing the edge of a wide board, but jointing the face will almost always be a problem.


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## Jeff82780 (Mar 15, 2010)

thanks for all the advice. i will try the rollers on infeed and outfeed side

thanks, jeff


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## TCCcabinetmaker (Dec 14, 2011)

I've done 12'-16 foot boards by myself on a 6' jointer without a helper, it gets harder to do as I'm doing heavier stock, but it's doable (I'm usually cussing my lumber supplier while doing a 16, because I specifically tell him not to bring me 16s…)

Now, another thing, if you are jointing the thin side, don't press down on the middle, the boards will tend to bow under the preasure and you won't get a flat surface…

But, If you are doing the cuped side and you are getting that kind of a result, you may need to look at your tables.

Bring the infeed all the way up, it should just pass your knives. Put a long straight edge on it and see if one of your tables is off. If one of the tables is not off, then it is likely your material is not being supported well enough.


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## Jeff82780 (Mar 15, 2010)

ok i give up!!!! not really, but im so frustrated. i just wanna finish my workbench! i took everyones advice and put a roller on the infeed and outfeed ends of my jointer. well same result. my jointer is set up right too. tables level knives are good. matbe my technique is poor. i am pushing down quite hard. this is because some of my boards are so warped and twisted. if i didnt push down the knives wouldnt joint the wood. maybe this is wrong. Here are some pictures i took. as u can see the areas clean are the jointed areas the areas with pencil line is the area not being jointed for some reason. aymore ideas to help me out?


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## thebigvise (Jun 17, 2010)

This may be an opportunity to consider making one of those jigs for face jointing on a planer. It is indeed difficult to joint a board 8' long. The jig will be some trouble, but may save you time and frustration in the end.


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## rance (Sep 30, 2009)

>" i am pushing down quite hard"

If you are flexing the board, then it won't work. It will spring back and you won't have a straight board. Furthermore, the orientation of the board(however cockeyed it is as you are pushing it through) must NOT change during the whole length of the cut.


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## TCCcabinetmaker (Dec 14, 2011)

Ok, the first picture is explained by pusing down on the boards tooo hard. Thus you aren't really letting the tool do it's job. You basically want to keep the board from kicking back, that's about it, after that, it will take what it needs to.

As for the edge pictures we've got 1 of 3 problems, so I'll start with the easiest 2 first.

1. You aren't holding it tight enough to the fence on the side you aren't joining. Thus it's allowing itself to cut on an angle.

2. Your fence is really out of square, which we will go back to step 1, because if your fence is out of square, so is your jointed edge.

3. Your knives are ground unevenly producing an odd effect. I rather hope it's one of the first 2.


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## twiceisnice (Aug 29, 2010)

Are you using regular 2×4x6 or is it rough cut lumber?


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