Jointing Timber

Hi
I'm about to start Project No 2 , but this time i want to make the body rather than use a bought one , i don't have access to a planer/jointer so would it be possible to do it with a router with a straight cutting bit and the adjustable guide taking a couple of mm's off .

I have 2 6ft planks of pine 8ins wide x 44mm that i got from a demolition job years ago it's been in my shed for 8 or 9 years , cut into 18in lengths there's enough for 4 bodies , so any advice would be great , Thanks .

If you're comfortable with handplanes, they're the tool for jointing. If you're not, though, I guess I'd suggest a table-mounted router. Make sure the bit is sharp.

Is there a cabinet shop local to you? They could probably joint it for you and shouldn't charge you much.

Find a cabinet shop near you. Tell them what you are doing and ask them if they will run two short boards through their planer for you. 99% change they will be excited to help you build a guitar and will tell you to come by and they wont charge you a thing. At least that is my experience.

I'd imagine it would work, but I'm wondering how much of a glue line you would end up with. I wonder if the rigidity is there to get a perfectly flat surface? Try it and see.

In my wallcaster build I used a router, and then slightly sanded the boards by sticking some sandpaper with double sided tape to a straight table. Worked very well.
Good luck with your build.

I joined these 3 pieces of Oregon rafter with an old hand plane...

I got the fit as close as I could without spending hours on it... checking the gaps up against the light.... then glued it with titebond...

the glue lines weren't as bad as I thought they might be...:smile:

Thanks for the reply's

I checked Yellow Pages nobody within a 20miles radius , they would'nt do it for nothing charge would be £20 - £30 , i forgot to mention timber is vanished so i'd have to strip that first before they'd touch it , i'll give the router a try if that does work it's cost me nothing .

If you have a good sharp table saw blade and a good fence check how tight the joint is after ripping a piece off of one side and putting that flat side against the fence and running it again. You might be surprised, I've glued up 3 or 4 bodies straight off of the saw with out any additional planing or jointing.

If you have a good sharp table saw blade and a good fence check how tight the joint is after ripping a piece off of one side and putting that flat side against the fence and running it again. You might be surprised, I've glued up 3 or 4 bodies straight off of the saw with out any additional planing or jointing.

If i had a table saw there'd be no problem and i would'nt be trying to use a router , it's the cost of the power tools that's why i bought a ready made body before .

You can't use the adjustable guide to get a straight line, as that would only index off of your already not-straight board. If you want to use a router for it, you likely want to attach a known straight edge to the board and use a pattern following bit.

You can't use the adjustable guide to get a straight line, as that would only index off of your already not-straight board. If you want to use a router for it, you likely want to attach a known straight edge to the board and use a pattern following bit.

I've checked one side with of my Aluminium Straight Edge's and it's as straight as you'll get , i think the main problem with the router is to get enough pressure on the guide for it to run straight and true i think the router till tip as you run it , the timbers 2in wider than i need so room for a couple of trial passes

To keep the router from tipping, build a baseplate like this:
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10651

I don't understand what you'll be running the guide against.

I've checked one side with of my Aluminium Straight Edge's and it's as straight as you'll get , i think the main problem with the router is to get enough pressure on the guide for it to run straight and true i think the router till tip as you run it , the timbers 2in wider than i need so room for a couple of trial passes

You might consider a shout out to the other TDPRI members in the UK. If you were within driving distance of me, I'd gladly help you, but sadly you are a very long plane ride away:cry:

I routinely use a #7 Stanley Jointer plane on bodies. I find that I can produce a tighter joint in pieces shorter than 36 inches than I can with a jointer. It takes some practice, but it is actually fun.

I don't understand what you'll be running the guide against.

It sounds like he's running a Guide Bushing against the Straight Edge, rather than a bearing against the SE.

I seriously think you need to find someone with the right tools for thejob. You may otherwise find yourself unhappy with the result. Keep looking for help. Ask in person not over the phone. Perhaps a highschool with a wood shop or a store selling wood and woodworking supplies?

http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Use-the-Router-Table-As-a-Jointer-302212484

http://www.familyhandyman.com/DIY-Tools---Tips/DIY-Skills/Tool-Skills/two-essential-saw-cutting-guides/View-All

The internet is your friend. You're probably better off using a circular saw with this type of fence/guide. The flex from your applied pressure using a router bit on thick wood may cause a gap unless you can apply pressure only on the outfeed side. IMO, the circular saw with a straight edge guide will get you better results. A good sharp blade is the ticket. That & geometry. If your blade is tilted any degree off 90 you will get a gap. The way around this is to flip one of the boards lengthwise, then make your cut. Say it's off by one degree, you make your cut & the boards are off by one degree each, causing a two degree gap. However, if you flip one of the boards, the gap disappears. Confused? Draw it on paper with a large gap, say 45 degrees, it becomes apparent.

Here's how you do it.

Router mounted upside down in a flat surface. Use a new 12.5 mm x 2" kitchen fitters cutter. You guide should be as shown. The timber will run as straight as the guide is. What you need to do is run the cuts as just the tiniest shave. Do not make the router do any hard work or it will deflect a little.
Do successive minimum passes until you have a clean even cut over the length. You just need to ease the guide in a smidgeon at each pass.
The wood has to run against the cutter blade rotation. You can do it the oher way but you run the risk of the cutter snatching and taking the wood for a trip across the room.

I've done this tons of times for bodies and other purposes , works well.

132818

132880

Also you can use this rig for even sizing of multiple pieces of timber. If the guide stays put everything will come out the same size.

What Macaroonie recommends. Which essentially means building yourself an inexpensive router table, something that will prove endlessly useful over time.

And also do what bubba suggests - mark the face of the two boards to be joined and run one face up and the other face down. Then when you glue them up join accordingly so that any angle cancels out.

The only other thing I would add is to use a push stick to feed the stock, and stand to the side (not directly behind) the stock. Worse than a trip accross the room is for a board to take a trip into your hip/stomach. It doesn't happen often, but when it does it happens fast. Blink of an eye fast.

After that it is clamps, clamps and more clamps.

What I do is very simple and works great. I have some 18-30" long marble remnants that are completely flat - the cost was less than $5 for those - got them at a Habitat For Humanity store. I glue some 80 or 100 gt sand paper to these with Super-77 spray glue.

What I do is I just cut the boards as straight and square as I can, draw some lines on the joint to be glued, then sand the joint flat - until the lines disappear - with the marble remnants with sand paper. Super easy, really cheap, perfect joints, no glue lines and it only took 15 minutes.

If you go the sandpaper on a table path then be sure to sand the two pieces simultaneously, held side by side . This will help keep them even, and the wider bearing surface will also reduce the chance of you tipping them at an angle.

If you go the sandpaper on a table path then be sure to sand the two pieces simultaneously, held side by side . This will help keep them even, and the wider bearing surface will also reduce the chance of you tipping them at an angle.

+1 Good tip. Unintentional pun btw

I jointed the 2 bodies in my build thread using a 20 quid stanley plane from B&Q. And I can not see the join.

I clamped the 2 pieces of timber in a vice and planed flat. I did not photograph it but its not hard. Do you know someone with a plane?

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/213322-twin-leigh-casters-project.html#post2514353

Here's how you do it.

Router mounted upside down in a flat surface. Use a new 12.5 mm x 2" kitchen fitters cutter. You guide should be as shown. The timber will run as straight as the guide is. What you need to do is run the cuts as just the tiniest shave. Do not make the router do any hard work or it will deflect a little.
Do successive minimum passes until you have a clean even cut over the length. You just need to ease the guide in a smidgeon at each pass.
The wood has to run against the cutter blade rotation. You can do it the oher way but you run the risk of the cutter snatching and taking the wood for a trip across the room.

I've done this tons of times for bodies and other purposes , works well.

132818

132880

Also you can use this rig for even sizing of multiple pieces of timber. If the guide stays put everything will come out the same size.

Nice idea , but i don't like the look of that exposed cutter , i was a HSE officer for a Contruction Company so that makes me cringe .

GET A GUARD ON IT !! .

No disrespect , I'm 58 and have been using sharp implements since childhood ,I still have all my fingers and toes.

You will be familiar with the ELU flip over saw used extensively in this country. It has a blade guard of course but if you use it you cannot see your cutting line.
So of course everyone just lifts it out of the way or takes it off.

Awareness of the dangers is the key in my opinion. I have a strict switch on cut switch off routine with that set up and my mitts go nowhere near the cutter.

Sorry to differ Mac

Doesn't the edge that runs against the guide have to already be straight for this setup to work?


Here's how you do it.

Router mounted upside down in a flat surface. Use a new 12.5 mm x 2" kitchen fitters cutter. You guide should be as shown. The timber will run as straight as the guide is. What you need to do is run the cuts as just the tiniest shave. Do not make the router do any hard work or it will deflect a little.
Do successive minimum passes until you have a clean even cut over the length. You just need to ease the guide in a smidgeon at each pass.
The wood has to run against the cutter blade rotation. You can do it the oher way but you run the risk of the cutter snatching and taking the wood for a trip across the room.

I've done this tons of times for bodies and other purposes , works well.


Also you can use this rig for even sizing of multiple pieces of timber. If the guide stays put everything will come out the same size.

As long as it sits steady it is fine. Clearly if it is convex in any way it can ' rock ' . The same goes for any planer. Nothing to stop you dressing the edge that runs on the guide bar.

It sounds like he's running a Guide Bushing against the Straight Edge, rather than a bearing against the SE.

That would work in a pinch, but basically it's a method that will work for a carpentry job and what you want is cabinetmaking. In other words, that's the method I'd use to true up the edge of a door that's been hacked by the prior owner, but I wouldn't be trying to make glue-lines out of it.

Another concern is the 44mm dimension of your planks. Whenever you glue up a few boards together, you're going to have to sacrifice some of the depth because the surfaces won't be perfectly planar. Alignment during gluing can be helped with the use of biscuits or dowels, but that's a tool-intensive method. No matter how good you are when clamping the boards together, they'll have to be cleaned up, usually with a planer or a handplane but in a pinch you could use a beltsander. That might mean that you wind up with a rather thin guitar body, besides the extra step in dimensioning the lumber. In other words you won't just be gluing up the boards to make one wide board, you also have to flatten the resulting workpiece across both surfaces. I hope I've explained this.

So what I'd recommend is getting a hand plane at a garage sale or tag sale somewhere so that you can tackle several important jobs for dimensioning lumber.

Reading all this makes me wonder what people did before electricity.

The art of using a hand plane is the art of a craftsman and a hand plane is a good match for something the size of a guitar top.

It's like when you discover what a scraper will do and you stop reaching for sand paper all the time.

But to each their own.

Make a blind fence for a table saw.It works best if you have vacuum but it can also be done with screws.Makes for invisible glue joints every time!

Reading all this makes me wonder what people did before electricity.


They spent 5 years learning and practicing to get it right. Now we just go to Home Depot and buy the right tool. :mrgreen:

Thanks for all the reply's

I've found someone to plane these up for me , but he wants the vanish stripped off first , new blades in the planer and he'll do them if and when he gets a spare moment , so could take a while , i'm in no hurry , i have a old Squier body and a part finished Alder body off Fleabay to play with , i'll post pics in another thread .

Reading all this makes me wonder what people did before electricity.

The art of using a hand plane is the art of a craftsman and a hand plane is a good match for something the size of a guitar top.

It's like when you discover what a scraper will do and you stop reaching for sand paper all the time.

But to each their own.

I bet they weren't making electric guitars back then.