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Best Tool for Tongue and Groove Routing 2 by 6 Yellow Pine

1626 Views 6 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  st8yd
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Please recommend an appropriate sized tool setup for this job:

Replacing Rotted Horse Stable Slats:

Job Description:
Tongue and groove routing of 1344 board feet of 12 foot lengths of 2 by 6 Yellow Kiln Dried Pine (That's 112 quantity of 12' lengths 2"x6" Boards)

I am thinking of a router table & router combo of some sort.. please advise..

If anyone can recommend the proper equipment and estimate the cost and type of bits to finish the job that would be even better! I don't know much about routing!

Grooves look to be 1/2" by 3/8"

I've included photo's to show what I'm trying to do....

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You could use a router table, but a table saw would be easier and much faster.
That's a job for a table saw with a dado stack. On 1 1/2ths inch (2x) pine, I would plan to cut the groove in one pass, then two pass per board to cut the tongue. I'd make it a fairly loose fit to account for warpage. That's 336 passes on the table saw. It will be far faster to cut all that on a table saw than on a router table. That's a long piece to hold in place on a router table. and even on a table saw, I'd want a roller stand on both the infeed and outfeed.
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One other problem I see with a router table, aside from a lot of time slowly feeding the stock, is that pine can quickly gum up your bit. A saw blade will not have as much of a problem, but will probably need cleaning after the project is done.

If the stock is warped, it's going to be difficult to get your cuts just right, so carefully select the best boards, no knots near the edges. If you don't own a saw that can handle a dado stack at least half an inch wide, you can use this as an excuse to buy one, but BE SURE THE TS CAN HANDLE A DADO STACK. I like the 8 inch dado set for this.

By the time you buy the saw and the dado set (if you don't have one now), you've probably run costs up enough to buy T & G stock already finished. If your time is worth anything, add that and you may find T & G stock is really a bargain. 336 passes on either router or TS is a chore I personally wouldn't want to take on.
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Welcome to the forum Justin.
G'day Justin, welcome to the forum.

As Tom has mentioned, getting stock that long in 2x6 boards that are straight and true may be difficult.
shaper would be the best, there must be someone near that can run those for reasonable fee
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I would first have to agree with buying t&g instead. I've done quite a few stalls and will use 2x8's instead of 2x6, it just makes a better stall.
But I am going to assume you already have the stock and that isn't an option.
Due to bowed, imperfect boards i would do it by hand with a heavy router 1/2" collet with a rabbet bit, this way it will follow the board and it is easier to handle the router than handle the board.
Another option to consider that I have done is peg it every 3'. Get some 3/8" round bar (I used a galvanized spike) cut it into at least 2" pieces. Make up a 1x2 to lay on the board edge to drill your holes.
This did very nicely on our stalls.
I had some short lengths to use up so I cut them to 7' and 3', alternated them back and forth using the pegs and it's as rigid as the full length boards.
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