woodworking planers

Woodworking question?

I need to get the wood im purchasing level and smooth so I can glue pieces up next to eachother, and so things come out flush. I dont have the money right now for the big boy planer or joiner, but was deciding on the following.

The first question I’ll ask, is this… is the lumber you’re buying uniform in thickness?

Next – do you have a router?

You can get a router bit that makes the edges line up more precisely than simply trying to glue 2 flat edges together… a fingerjoint bit would be ideal….creates an extremely strong glue joint, and if youre accurate with your setup, then the top face can be very very flush.

There are also some clamping techniques that help to insure that the wood lines up where you want it, and stays there.

Take a look at these links:
This one has a finger joint bit, and off to the left, you can see some other types of ‘locking’ joint bits – http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=5710&filter=fingerjoint%20bit
This is a 4-face clamp – http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10711
Ive achieved the same results by using a pair of steel straight edges (square tube steel works pretty well) to make a ‘face’ clamp, to help align the boards….obviously, the size of the workpiece will mandate some of how this can be done.

You can always check with a local cabinet shop too… to see if they have a Taylor clamp, or widebelt sander. It only takes a few minutes to set up a sander and run the parts thru. (Some schools have small widebelt sanders now too, in their shop classes.)

Good Luck

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