How To Edge Joint

[El Barto]

This is such a great topic so thanks Custard. My two pence to the process is that quality cramps really make such a difference to what is an already stressful process, especially for a newcomer.

When I built my workbench and had to laminate the top, I bought cheap aluminium sash cramps a la Paul Sellers and followed his advice about reinforcing them with wooden strips. In hindsight I would splash out for high or higher quality cramps if I could as the cheap ones are terrible. The heads frequently bind to the bar and the little rubber grommets on the handles fall off all the time - I found myself faffing about with making them work correctly instead of focussing on the glue up. So I think that's probably an area of the beginner woodworker's kit list that is often overlooked. I used them for a glue up tonight and they were utterly useless and so back into the corner they'll go.

However I did get a couple of these the other day and they have been very good and also reasonably priced: https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-t ... p-ax945578

Thanks again Custard.

 

[gwd]

Many thanks, Many useful tips that I will use to improve my jointing.

 

[G S Haydon]

Thanks for that. Excellent post and got some good info.

 

[Ed Turtle]

Sash cramps rarely apply pressure at exactly the angle you expect. The "shoes" sometimes angle back, or the "spine" bends upwards under pressure. Having cramps top and bottom helps. But sometimes you'll need cramping blocks on the outer edges with a "D" shaped profile, this profile automatically adjusts for out of true sash cramps, and delivers the pressure perpendicular to the joint.

I'm sorry if this is obvious, but to me i cant quite work out how this works! Could you explain further please?

Thanks

 

[custard]

I hope this sketch explains.

At the top is a sash cramp tightening up on a workpiece. The jaws of the sash cramp are splayed out (exaggerated, but most cramps are in fact slightly splayed in this direction) as a consequence they're pushing on the bottom corner of the workpiece and so making the workpiece bow upward in the middle.

At the bottom is the same arrangement, but this time with D shaped cramping blocks. These cramping blocks compensate for the splay of the jaws and prevent the workpiece bowing up in the centre.

 

[John Brown]

Not seen this thread before, I can only echo what others have said - you should gather all this stuff together in a book of some sort.
John

 

[Ed Turtle]

I hope this sketch explains.



At the top is a sash cramp tightening up on a workpiece. The jaws of the sash cramp are splayed out (exaggerated, but most cramps are in fact slightly splayed in this direction) as a consequence they're pushing on the bottom corner of the workpiece and so making the workpiece bow upward in the middle.

At the bottom is the same arrangement, but this time with D shaped cramping blocks. These cramping blocks compensate for the splay of the jaws and prevent the workpiece bowing up in the centre.

Thanks, that does make sense!

 

[AES]

Could I suggest to the Mods that this thread be made a sticky please? Far too much good info to have to go looking for in the main body of the Forum after a little time has passed.

 

[AndyT]

Could I suggest to the Mods that this thread be made a sticky please? Far too much good info to have to go looking for in the main body of the Forum after a little time has passed.

It already is- great minds think alike!

 

[chris watford]

Thank you, most enlightening and accomplished

I have only worked with hardwood a couple of times, and this thread has spurred me on to try
Think to myself, you have the tools, get on with it :wink:

Chris

 

[Suffolkboy]

I'm slowly building my first solo, large project which has involved a lot of edge jointing, this thread (along with pretty much anything and everything else you have posted Custard.) has been immensely helpful as a reference point and my work, and satisfaction derived from the quality of that work has benefitted greatly as I am sure many other hobby woodworkers have. Thanks again for taking the time to do this.

 

[Osvaldd]

What about jointing boards that are thicker than your hand plane blade?

 

[AndyT]

What about jointing boards that are thicker than your hand plane blade?

Do you have an example in mind?
My widest planes have a 2 1/2" iron. If you are working with wood thicker than that, you're not making furniture.
Maybe a wooden ship, a bridge or a set of lock gates?

 

[Osvaldd]

A ship?

I'm making a workbench top from 3"x3"
as in this thread:
post1278096.html#p1278096

 

[AndyT]

Aah, well, I'd say that your edges are on top and you are joining faces together.
Follow your preferred method for flattening surfaces, glue and clamp.
Plenty of good bench threads and videos available.

 

[custard]

If you're jointing really thick timbers then there's a massive glue surface, which gives you a healthy safety margin. For a bench top I really wouldn't stress too much about invisible glue lines and all the other cabinet making stuff. As long as it's reasonably straight and gap free then you'll be fine.

If you're super picky you can set a lightly cambered iron for a fine finishing cut and work out from the centre, then you'll get a really tight glue line, but it's really not necessary.

 

[D_W]

What about jointing boards that are thicker than your hand plane blade?

You joint them just like facing a wide board. My plane billets and guitar blanks are generally wider than the planes that I have. I usually rough them to a standard where they will not move on my bench top as I've got an area deliberately planed to flatness within a few thousandths on my bench top - just for the task.

I generally joint or face whichever side is flat sawn first as the quartered side that follows to make a 90 degree face to the edge or edge to the face will be easier to work if it's the quartered side.

You remove the high spots that you find as a matter of method, not work the whole area. You'll find once you've done that, you're most of the way done.

Use the cap iron - whether you get annoyed by hearing that or not - for the truing work - you'll work far more accurately if the plane you're using stays in the cut and removes a uniform amount from end to end and starts a cut staying in the cut.

 

[D_W]

A ship?

I'm making a workbench top from 3"x3"
as in this thread:
post1278096.html#p1278096

I would worry more about the faces on these boards, that they're clean/flat and relatively co planar to each other. Then glue up with as little riff raff as possible on the top and bottom and plane that.

I made my bench out of wood that I didn't favor doing much jointing on, at least not more than I had to. Ash a little thicker than 2" before planing, and then ran it through a thickness planer. I'd normally do something like that by hand, but I wanted a bench more than I wanted to build a bench. Planing the final glued up assembly to flatness was pretty easy then - easier than doing finish jointing on the boards themselves.

If you're working by hand, get one face flat and then strike a thickness mark and just plane to it and save the initial jointing only for rough work.

 

[monster]

Thanks for that Custard, learnt a lot reading through that!

 

[BradNaylor]

Great post Custard; it's always good to be reminded how things should be done!

Personally, I just joint my boards on the table saw. A sharp blade with plenty of teeth and the finish is perfectly good enough. I've got a decent saw, though.

I'm retiring soon though, and giving up my Norm-style workshop. I will be working out of a shed at home with only hand tools - well okay, maybe a bandsaw and router table!

I'm kinda looking forward to regressing to my college days and picking up a hand plane again!

Secret mitred dovetails, anyone?