I'm trying to do my very first table top out of hardwood but it proving to be quite the learning curve. I acquired a small benchtop jointer and a lunchbox type thickness planer and I've more or less successfully made my boards. What I'm struggling with now is getting a nice glue up without gaps. My first try turned out so so, and i was afraid i didn't use enough glue so I re ripped the joints with my tracksaw. I think my boards are evenly thick but they seem a bit hourglass shaped if that makes sense. They'reb about 170cm long and they join up on the ends, but there's about a 1mm gap towards the middle on some joints and its too much to squeeze all the gaps together on the panel. I first tried jointing on the benchtop jointer but got horrible results with the small bed. (Could also be lack of skill as this is all new to me). I then went with a tracksaw and parallel guides instead,which is better but still giving me a bit of a gap. So I guess im asking how more experienced woodworkers would proceed.
Would it help to glue up two boards at a time so there's maybe enough strength in the clamps to squeeze the gap shut. Or should i rip the bigger boards down so they all fit upright in the thickness planer and try to get two really parallel sides that way? I have rollers to extend the beds of both the thicknesser and the jointer but have had better results with the thicknesses. Is there something else I'm not thinking of?
Well, one thing to ask is, are the boards actually narrow in the middle, or is the blade of the saw tilting in the middle a bit? Are the jointed edges square to the faces?