have some long boards I need jointed. great difficulty with a jointer. so my question is can I use a piece of my 2.5x2.5x10 14 gage square tubing as an edge guide for a router and a straight bit? its new and has been stored laying down.

At ten feet the tubing isn't going to be straight either. What would work better would be to make a guide with a couple pieces of 3/4 plywood doweling and glue it together to make the length. Then either clamp or screw the plywood to the board and rip it straight on your table saw. Once straight if you had a helper you could dress the edge on a jointer and keep it straight.

a friend of mine has a big 18 inch jack plane.....the boards only have to be 6ft long that was just what the steel came in

It's not unreasonable to joint 6' on a jointer. I could do 10' on my smaller jointer but it wouldn't be easy. I also modified it to handle longer wood.

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I could joint a 6' foot board no problem in my 8" jointer.

6' doesnt seem like that much of a problem to me either, assuming your jointer isnt tiny. At any rate though, theres no reason you couldnt use the router and a straight edge, assuming the edge was actually straight.

I would think you would want something thinner and wider for a straight edge, can't see using something that high.
The factory edge of a sheet of plywood is generally acceptable.

I made a sled for my table saw to cut straight edges on rough stock that is bowed. It works well.

Note: The sled rides against the fence. That makes it easy to adjust the cutting width to match the stock, thus minimizing waste.

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I totally agree with MT's sled.
I have been using something similar for the last 30 years.
Makes you become a 'hold-down' junkie

I got it done on jointer. I was overthinking it

Good deal..

Next time this comes up .......
I'm not a big fan of these in general, because they have to be set slightly lower then the level of the machine, so that the work won't bump them and knock them over..... So, I came up with this idea which allows you to level them out exactly with the machine surface:

Get some el-cheapo roller stands. These are from H-F for about $14.99.
Remove the rollers and replace them with a 2" x 12" plank on either side of the table, assuming you have 4 stands, or just use 2 of them on the outfeed side.
To remove the rollers from the stands just push in on the pin, it's springloaded, and the roller will pop out.

Bevel the leading edge of the plank to ensure better feeding. Level them out with a long straight edge off the outfeed table.


This approach saves floor space because you can fold the stands up and store them and stash the plank where ever...

No need to wreck a good set of rollers that you may need need for another job, just fasten some cleats on the bottom of the plank to hold it in place.

The dang rollers just "pop out" by pushing in the end.... no wrecking required. Have you removed any of these type rollers yourself? If so, you would know how easy it is to remove them. They can be plugged back in instantly.
No need for cleats on the plank when there's no rollers AND it's more stable and easier to adjust the heights.

Sorry was just suggesting an alternative method, my mistake, thought this was a discussion group.