On Sun, 09 Nov 2008 08:51:09 -0600, Morris Dovey
wrote:

Bored Borg wrote:

How do I get the first long board straight... ?

Do I need an even longer board?

How do I get THAT straight... ?

I have an 8' and a 20' length of _straight_ alumin(i)um angle in my shop
to solve exactly that problem. :-)

....this is one of those techniques that may be frowned upon, but I use
an old, straight, level that I've decommissioned from the bubble jobs,
I eyeball the crown of whatever I'm trying to straighten/joint (a good
example is S2S hardwood I buy 'cause it's cheaper), put the concave
side against the straightedge and *that* against the fence (that is
set to maxamize the width of the board), using a deadman that is the
same height as my table to hold everything steady...whew... I then run
the package through the saw. This method took me a few trys, mainly
getting my feet to move properly and at the same time holding the
level against the fence, resulting in making the cut in pretty much
one, smooth motion. Naturally, after the initial pass, I flip the
board and cut the concave side flat. It works for me and I usually
dont do lengths over 10', but it may not be everyone's cup of
gasoline...

cg