help!! edge jointing chunky oak boards with biscuits

[OvertonPlumber]

Hi all.... first post in this section. I need to make an oak shelf about 500mm square. I plan to do this out of some nice chunky oak i have which is kiln dried and has been under my bed for about a year.

Its 2" thick by 240mm wide and about 1.3mtr long.

If i join 2 pieces together ill get 480mm depth by 500mm long.
I plan to i guess use a biscuit jointer and clamp and glue the thing together.

hows the best way to go about this. Im guesiing standard clamps wont open that wide. I do have some 5foot sash cramps i used when i made my kitchen units.
Does it pay me to use say 4"x2" strips when clamping to cross stabilise the joint?

What about grain direction?>

Untitled

• OvertonPlumber
• 11 Feb 2009
• 1

Oh i have spare 2.5ltrs of sadolin clear satin exterior which i used when i put oak in bathrooms before. 4-5 coats of that stuff should stop any ingress of moisture. Worse case if the thing does warp ill just make another one

 

[big-all]

idealy you want to cut the boards in half and glue them with the curve of the growth rings alternating up then

yep buiscut/dowel together 2x1 or greater top and bottom surface you will need some g clamps or simmilar at at least 3 points accross the width to hold the 2x1" firmly
if your clamping at 2 points along the length use 3 pairs off 2x1" although i would personaly use 3 sash clamps with 4 pairs of 2x1"
only clamp the 2x1 tight on one half wind the sash clamps up tight other wise you will be clamping the boards appart

use clamping blocks and make shure your bars [if metal] dont touch the wood otherwise the tannin in the oak reacting with the steel will cause black marks on the oak