Hiya Fellas!

[Fricasseekid]

Newb here, hailing from southern Louisiana, USA.
My woodworking skills are novice at best and my tools are even more limited than my knowledge. My pride and craftsmanship are about the only thing I have going for me at the moment.

I recently built a toy-box for my son and have had several people ask me to build one for them as well. With a viable business opportunity in my lap, I figured it might be time to take my carpentry skills further than what my high school wood shop class has prepared me for. That's where you guys come in. I'm looking forward to discussing with, reading, and learning from you guys.

As you can see, my facilities are most rudimentary. However, I am proud of what I was able to turn out with such few tools and poor working conditions. This toy box was built with pine hobby board purchased from Lowes , but my next build is gonna be made from some #2 cypress. I plan on edgejoining the boards to make the size pieces I need. I've done some reading around here and the extent which some of you go and tools some of you use to get a perfectly flat edgejoined board has me feeling a bit intimidated. I would gladly hear any critique of my work or any beginners advice for edgejoining.

Thanks,
Stu

[Fricasseekid]

Y'all are a friendly bunch, huh?
10 views and not one person has the time say hello?
Maybe I joined the wrong forum.

[Ad de Crom]

Well in this case I'm the first to say hello.
This is for sure a very friendly forum, in my view the best forum on earth.
Ad from the Netherlands

[Fricasseekid]

Thank you!
And I won't give up on it that easy anyhow. There seems to be a lot of knowledge here.

[spit]

That's a witty design there, I like the way the letters break the frame. I bet you were trouble in school! And a freezing hello from the Isle of Man

[Fricasseekid]

Lol, I was. Nice carpentry psychological breakdown there. Thanks!

[Groggy]

Welcome Stu, it looks like your school classes paid off!

[Groggy]

Y'all are a friendly bunch, huh?
10 views and not one person has the time say hello?
Maybe I joined the wrong forum.

Stu, views can be counted from guests. Guests cannot post comments.

[Fricasseekid]

Stu, views can be counted from guests. Guests cannot post comments.

Ok, thanks for the heads up.

[Fricasseekid]

Ok gentleman, question time...
Here's a list of my current power tools:
Jigsaw
Skillsaw
Porter cable 1/2hp router (no bench)
12v power drill
6" orbital sander
Finish sander

I need to efficiently edgejoin a bunch of boards. My budget is very limited (less than $200).
What 1 tool and method would you guys recommend to get the job done?

I'm thinking either:
a router table+good rabbit bit
or
a biscuit cutter+a hand powered edge planer

[Crunchie]

Welcome Fricasseekid. Your first post was around 1.00am in Australia, so I guess you wouldn't expect too many responses at that time. We are just getting out of bed now!! I'm strictly an amateur, but I'd go with the biscuit jointer option. I find them by far the easier way of joining boards edge-on-edge and lots of other joining applications.

[Fricasseekid]

Welcome Fricasseekid. Your first post was around 1.00am in Australia, so I guess you wouldn't expect too many responses at that time. We are just getting out of bed now!! I'm strictly an amateur, but I'd go with the biscuit jointer option. I find them by far the easier way of joining boards edge-on-edge and lots of other joining applications.

Yeah, I kinda figured that after I complained about no responses. I wasn't sure this was an Australian based site until now.

The only problem for me with the biscuit joining option is my lack of experience with an edge planer has me worried I won't be able to get flush fits.

[Ian Smith]

Baton Rouge eh? Don't know a bloke called Bobby Magee do you?

Mate, looking at your shots it seems to me you're doing OK edge-wise but you'll always be you own worst critic.

Biscuits are fine for making wide ones out of narrow ones but you'll always get minor variations in thickness and "waveyness" that'll give your sanders a workout.

You might look at making a serviceable edge planner with your router mounted in a basic table. A flat piece of MDF, or similar, clamped to a couple of horses did me for a while. I got a couple of nice straight bits of whatever and using a straight edge lined them up to make a 0.5 mm cut and screwed them down to the MDF. Does for pieces up to about a meter or so in length...longer if you're game


Ian

[Fricasseekid]

Baton Rouge eh? Don't know a bloke called Bobby Magee do you?

Mate, looking at your shots it seems to me you're doing OK edge-wise but you'll always be you own worst critic.

Biscuits are fine for making wide ones out of narrow ones but you'll always get minor variations in thickness and "waveyness" that'll give your sanders a workout.

You might look at making a serviceable edge planner with your router mounted in a basic table. A flat piece of MDF, or similar, clamped to a couple of horses did me for a while. I got a couple of nice straight bits of whatever and using a straight edge lined them up to make a 0.5 mm cut and screwed them down to the MDF. Does for pieces up to about a meter or so in length...longer if you're game


Ian

Thanks for the info! The wood used in the toy box was pre-fab hobby wood though. It's only pine and for the price I'm paying for it, I could buy much better wood.

The pieces I'm joining are 8 ft. In length. What's that, about 2 meters?