Awesome Swags!!! I'm glad you finally got it! That's been several months in the making! It was before your GTG that I seen it. Now you need a 660
For your table project I'm not sure how wide your slabs are going to be, but you can get a good glue joint with a good quality blade on a table saw. With both of your pieces of stock flat, butt the edges together, working on the bottom of the stock attach wood strips across the joint and on the ends, to hold the two pieces together, raise the table saw blade just above the surface of the stock but do not cut the strips, run it through the saw right down the joint, even if the joint it is not perfect it will fit together perfect because both sides were cut at the same time. You will need some bar clamps to glue n clamp it up, You can use the same technique with a straight edge and a router with a straight bit long enough to go through the stock. This is just one way you could do it. The size and width of your stock will determine whether or not you can use a small jointer. Really and truly if I were you, I would find a place that can surface the boards for you and maybe even glue them up and surface the whole thing. It wouldn't cost that much. I don't know what you mean by live edge, are you talking about a breadboard end?
A jointer is certainly the "right" tool, but I agree with HD, it's not the only one that can be used. In addition to a table saw, a router with a good bit could be used as well, either mounted on a table, or with a guide and a good straight edge. Too difficult to convey the whole process in a forum post like this, but there's plenty of youtube vids on different systems people have used.
Sold my then 17 yr old mint condition Delta 6" jointer in fall 2012,hadnt used it much past couple years. Use these more & more now -various late 19th century Scottish cast iron panel & jointer planes,from 16 to 21 inches long.Plus a couple different newer Scottish & German beechwood models. But to save time when making the first rough cuts I'll normally use a worm drive skil saw & custom made straight edge.
I'm putting the mill together now and a new chain on the bar. I have a homemade aux oiler going together as well that I'm going to try. Gonna mill some pine tonight for a test run.
Some of those jointer planes can cost as much as a powered one! It's good to do some test runs before you saw the log you want to use for the table. Sit on that project a while. Mill your test pieces and let them dry for a while. You won't end up with very straight boards at first! I've done some milling with my vertical band saw, and air dried the pieces. The only ones that ended up straight were quarter sawn, or close to it. Granted I didn't have a lot of other lumber on top weighing it down.
Went out and milled a hemlock tonight. Made 4 slabs at 3". This was a log that had been bore cut into a few times so the first two slabs have a few cutsthrough them but the other two turned out nice. My little girl was outside with me and disappeared for a few minutes. She came back out with two Italian ice cups and two spoons, guess it was time for a little break. Love that little girl!
I can't imagine someone would bore cut through a log?!?! I ain't saying any names Looks good Swags! Awesome job! How did that 460 preform? Do you need a 660??
The 460 did really good, I won't mention any names either on the bore cut. They turned out good, might have to make a bench or something out of them when they dry.
Under 20" wide you won't see much difference in the 460 and 660. Over that and you'll start to notice needing more torque.
Those test cuts look like they came out good! Now i regret passing on that mill on CL a few months ago Great pic with your daughter!
