"Bill" wrote in message

dadiOH wrote:
BTW, the lack of a joiner is NP. A saw with a decent
blade can do an adequate job on the edges. If not, a
router table will (I often use mine to join edges
rather than using my joiner). So will a hand plane with
- or even without - a shooting board.

What about the "first face" on 5-foot lengths of lumber
that needs work? I suspect I could plane a reasonably
flat surface on glued-up boards. The results might depend
a little on the kitchen lighting.. You almost talked me
out of thinking I needed a jointer, so I'm definitely
still listening.

Various ways, depends on what tools you have. I have done the following...

1. Take to a millwork shop and pay them

2. By hand with a 7" disc sander and coarse paper; just keep eyeballing it
and use a straight edge frequently.

3. With a 9" soft pad, medium paper, on a radial saw (pad down, shove wood
under)

4. Depending on width, on a router table. Sometimes with the router
vertical, other times horizontal. That works OK up to about 3" (my longest
bit).

Now, I just use my drum sander Handiest machine I own. But I often
don't use it until AFTER I glue up a wider panel; not for thickness at
least, I always use it enough so I can see the grain/color of the wood which
often isn't enough to get it truly flat.

One can also make sort of double shooting boards, clamp the work between and
use a router. A router won't leave a very good surface as the bit is
cutting cross grain; a belt sander might work better.

Some (not me, maybe could if I tried) can do it with a plane. I once picked
up a teak board in Chicago to use to make a new dash for my car. It was too
thick, needed it skinnied down. I was living in Mexico so took it around
the corner to a carpenter's shop, figured he'd have a planer or joiner. He
did have a joiner but he didn't use it, used a hand plane and in 20 minutes
he'd reduced it from 3/4 to 1/2. I asked how much I owed, he said to give
him a six pack of Coca Cola sometime.

Regarding the joiner, I don't recall ever using it to get a face; mostly, to
clean up edges especially after ripping on my band saw. And lots of times I
use the router table for that.

--

dadiOH
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