# Jointing with a table saw



## DennisCA (18 Jun 2014)

Anyone done this? There are a few jigs on the net that look interesting. I'm talking about the ones that closely replicate the principle of an actual jointer, such as this one:
http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/resou ... index.html

Or this one:
http://download.plansnow.com/plansnow-t ... inting.pdf

I've heard one person say they did not work well for them but thats pretty much all I got to go on.


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## Jacob (18 Jun 2014)

DennisCA":3rb4c6xc said:


> Anyone done this? There are a few jigs on the net that look interesting. I'm talking about the ones that closely replicate the principle of an actual jointer, such as this one:
> http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/resou ... index.html
> 
> .....
> I've heard one person say they did not work well for them but thats pretty much all I got to go on.


Looks a dud to me. 
It'd work if the fence was twice the length of the workpiece so it'd be up against throughout the pass and with feathers to hold it as it passes the blade and becomes difficult to reach. 
As shown in the pic it wouldn't work and reaching it on the far side would be dangerous. Two proper push sticks would help but that one pad shown is no good
In any case you get the same effect if you just fastened a long straight edge to your fence and passed the workpiece between it and the blade in the usual way. Much easier + two long push sticks, feathers and support at the end beyond the table.


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## Walney Col (19 Jun 2014)

I made one virtually identical to your second link and trust me it's a huge step forward compared to having no way of jointing at all.

Col.


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## fluffflinger (19 Jun 2014)

Looks interesting but if you have a router table then try this:

Simply make a fence that has a thin piece of laminate glued to the face out feed side. Line up the edge of the cutter level with the outfeed side and you will then remove material in a very similar fashion to a jointer as you feed the stock through. With a 63mm straightbit you have quite a bit of capacity. Many years ago I jointed 3metre oak boards for a worktop using this method. Actually all I did was double stick tape a 600mm steel rule to my existing fence. Make your fences (in feed and outfeed) in proportion to the length of timber you wish to joint.


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## DennisCA (23 Jun 2014)

Sorry don't have a router table either  For the foreseeable future what I'll have is the table saw and some hand planes, one wooden 30" jointer that is out of comission until I get it fixed (turning it into a krenov style)

Walney Col. that is encouraging news, I will try and build the latter design, it did look the superior of the two.


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## fluffflinger (23 Jun 2014)

In essence the second method is not unlike the router table solution I described in an earlier post. 

I have no frame of reference but apart from setting it up it looks OK. My only reservation would be on a table saw with a largish bed getting the pressure to the outfeed side might be an issue. This could be solved by using a couple of feather boards BEYOND THE BLADE! Also please add some kind of guard for the blade you will be pushing timber directly towards the blade, scary.

You may find sourcing laminate in small quantities problematic so I would use laminate worktop edging it's 40mm high and it will provide more than enough support for your workpiece, attached with a contact adhesive. The sheds will sell you a length of 3000mm for a fiver or thereabouts. 

As a simpler solution you could just take rip from a sheet of MDF (the factory edge will be pretty darn straight) make sure it is wider than the board you need to joint, lay your board ontop of this carrier board with the edge to be straightened overhanging by a small amount and attach the two together (couple of shop made clamps or, toggle clamps would do. Then run the board through the saw taking off a shaving, using the factory edge of the mdf against the fence, detach from the carrier board flip it and rip to width using you newly cut edge against the fence. Voila one dimensioned board at finished width. 

Let us know how it works out.


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## woodbrains (27 Jun 2014)

Hello,

Surely just a good rip sawn board, at the required width, would have as good an edge that would just need a quick pass with a sharp hand plane. This seems redundant to me. If you want to establish the initial straight edge on a rough board, just tack on a straight length of ply wood and then rip to width from that reference. Beats me what it achieves that just ripping to width does not!

Mike?


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## DennisCA (22 Aug 2014)

The idea with this jig was to use the whole of the saw blade to be able to face joint boards up to 6" wide (by doing two passes), not just edge jointing, in which case such a jig would be just fine and dandy.

Though I am currently on the lookout for a cheap jointer and planer, or combo, preferably something old, cast iron and 3-phase.


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## woodbrains (24 Aug 2014)

DennisCA":10qd9ies said:


> The idea with this jig was to use the whole of the saw blade to be able to face joint boards up to 6" wide (by doing two passes), not just edge jointing, in which case such a jig would be just fine and dandy.



Hello,

Flattening faces is not indicated with either of these techniques. I doubt it would even be possible and especially not safely. The flaw in these methods for edge jointing is, a flat reference face is required, which would mean some sort of surface planer/thicknesser was employed previously! A redundant technique, methinks.

Mike.


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## DennisCA (25 Aug 2014)

The jig replicates a jointers basic function and the flatness comes from the two halves of the jig itself, so you just run it through and that flattens it against the surfaces of the jig, so if those are flat the surface will become flat too. 

Safety wise it doesn't seem any more dangerous than using a jointer (or planer, it's hard to keep track of multiple terminologies in another language).


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## nathandavies (25 Aug 2014)

How is the second hand machinery market in Finland Dennis? If you were in the UK there are plenty of very good 3 phase combi machines that come up on the bay.


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## DennisCA (25 Aug 2014)

I'm looking at two possible ones now, so this jig discussion is perhaps academic. Market is kinda limited now because due to space issues I'd like a combi-machine. This is a good jointer, but I think it takes too much space, very good price though:


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## woodbrains (25 Aug 2014)

Hello,

You are on to hiding to nothing, if you think you can use a tablesaw to flatten boards. Do you realise that you are not meant to use only one side of the blade? Doing it on a thin edge once in a while would probably not amount to much, but using the full depth is definitely not to be advised. The vibrations set up on the thin plate would be horrendous. As I said, neither of these jigs indicate face flattening of boards! And they still rely on the previosly flattened face to work the edge. They will not work on sawn timber with no initial flat on any face or edge. Avoid.

That machine looks fabulous. If you are a woodworker, you'll need it, so get one.

Mike.


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## pcb1962 (29 Aug 2014)

woodbrains":numxx8a1 said:


> That machine looks fabulous.



+1
Snap that machine up and worry about finding the space for it later.


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## pcb1962 (29 Aug 2014)

DennisCA":1n1fj920 said:


> Anyone done this? There are a few jigs on the net that look interesting. I'm talking about the ones that closely replicate the principle of an actual jointer, such as this one:
> Or this one:
> I've heard one person say they did not work well for them but thats pretty much all I got to go on.


Steve Ramsey video here worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrYjc3G1vgo


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