Newbie question here?

[Ramhatch]

I plan on getting a mill this year and building a house.  My question is what do I use to make tounge and groove?  A router, shaper, jointer? I'm a lil confused as to what each can do.  Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

[Magicman]

You may (or may not) find this thread interesting:  Cabin Addition

Page 17, Reply #326 begins the paneling/flooring portion where T&G was used.  I regretted not having my kiln guy do the mill work which would have saved me many hours, but it is done now.

[beenthere]

Likely a combination of tools.

Need to dry the lumber, and then machine it to get straight boards for the T&G.
Then the surfaces need to be machined to what you want... and maybe rough-sawn is your desire.
Once the surface is done, then the edges need to be straight and parallel.
Then the tongue and the groove can be moulded to the edges.

For surfacing, a jointer followed by a trip through a planer is normal procedure.
For parallel edges, a jointer followed by a rip saw is normal.
For the T&G, either a router or shaper can do that.

Or the board blanks can be sent through a 4 or 5 head moulding machine to do all or most of the above in one pass.

Much will depend on just what you want in the end.

[Ramhatch]

Thanks MM, that was very helpful.  I spent several hours on that thread.  It was a good read.

[WDH]

Here is how I make T&G.

Pick out a tree
Saw it down
Skid it out
End seal it
Saw lumber on sawmill
Sticker stack the lumber
Dry the lumber
Unstack the sticker stack
Haul lumber to shop
Run boards face down on jointer to flatten one face
Run boards thru the planer and plane down to 3/4"
Edge joint one edge of each board straight
Rip to width on table to get second edge straight
Put tongue bit in router table
Run tongue profile on all boards (use feather board to hold boards flat thru the bit)
Put groove bit in router table
Run groove profile on test board and adjust to get the just right fit
Run groove profile on all boards
Sand all boards - 80 grit
Sand all boards again -150 grit
Sand all boards again - 220 grit

Just a few steps  :D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Could you repeat that.....I just found my pencil.

[ron barnes]

Great answer Danny.

[Ramhatch]

I'd better bookmark that.... :P