Great stuff! I’d love to see a video on how you laid that room out. The upfront planing before you get cutting and joining. Thanks for the great content
Excellent video as usual Spencer! It takes a real man to show the error in assembling the board and not editing it out. We all have done things like that and you’re brave enough to point it out and help others to watch out for things that can crop up when least expected! So happy to have found this channel about a couple of years back.
Domino, yes, but I fail to see how the Lamello is superior simple pocket screws for this application. The downside to pocket screws is that the pieces can shift out of plane but the dominos resolve that.
Sometime itd be really great to see some footage of your build process on some of these types of features, a bit of the woodworking aspect. Really enjoy your content Spencer, seriously have taught myself and thousands of other carpenters so much. Cheers brother!
An economical alternative way to perform the Clamex tension part of this joint is to use a Hafele Minifix connector, available with either single or double headed stud. The cross hole needed to tighten the cam is larger in diameter than the one for the Clamex, and the process might be a bit slower. But a Minifix drilling jig does a good job for significantly less than the investment in Clamex. Likewise, the Domino alignment function can be performed, with slightly compromised strength, by biscuits. We used this biscuit/Minifix combo joint in building large-scale plastic laminate storefronts years before either Domino or Clamex machines were invented. By using double-headed, angularly adjustable Minifix, very large panels can also be stitched together where mitered panels meet at points of rotation.
In southern California, 10' plywood was readily available in most species from cabinet supply wholesalers. There was no significant upcharge. I am suprised that you don't have that available through your suppliers. Possible in Indianapolis.
That one library just paid for the Lamelo tool outright!! Nice one. Everything looks super crisp, I will have a couple big jobs coming up doing some big millwork and may be having to make some purchases....
Get yourself a nice 4mm T handle dedicated for the clamex fittings. I absolutely love getting to use one with hidden fasteners, it even works well on mitered panels that are even laminated.. an invaluable tool that pays for itself on a few jobs.. rock on you are still killing it!
Bro I’d love love to be your neighbor lol. “ hey Spenser mind if I come over and use your… input any tool here”. Next time my wife tells me I have too many tools she be getting to watch some of your videos. Watching work like yours really pushes me to up my game and skills.
Hey Spencer, I vote that you hire someone to just film and edit for you all day everyday so we can get a new video almost everyday. Lol. Love your content. Thanks for all you do!
Great video. As usual. I always learn from you. I am pretty sure that three dominos, glue and your Besseys would have achieved as good a joint without the Clamex biscuit connector.
love your content and thank you. in my opinion for a bookshelf pocket screws are perfectly fine. especially if you seam at a shelf if not adjustable is ok. faster easier.
We have a lamello at the cabinet shop I work at and we exclusively use the tenso fasteners. It acts like an automatic constant pressure clamp like the ones you used but without the hole and then no need for pinch dogs. But I’m sure you know that and have a reason for not using them, so I’m curious why that might be.
Love your problem solving and your massive variety of tools to get the job done. Question: How would you compare the joining strength and quality of your video's domino joint versus a dado-rabbit joint (if that would be a valid alternative method for joining plywood)? I ask this question as I don't own a domino or clamex connector tool, but I do own a table saw, track saw and router which I could use to make the dado-rabbit joint. Also I have never attempted to butt joint plywood before.
And not a single tool will rule them all! We use 5x30 dominoes for 1/2 plywood, clamped with long pipe clamps. Pipe comes in 21 ft lengths, we have 4# 12's that get used a fair amount. Off cuts are 7's which are more standard for door clamps.
Great video Spencer. I’m assuming hacks like me could get by with dowels and pinch dogs if we don’t have access to production tools like the domino and Lamello?
Hi Spencer. Great video! Although you can get 10’ foot sheets all day long in almost any species. At least out here in California you can. I wonder why you can’t get those where you are??
I don't understand the need for the Clamex. With the workbench clamps doing the work during glueup, the Clamex is adding only minimal clamping pressure, and is weaker than a center Domino. I"m sure you have a good reason, but I don't think I saw it.
You can get 4'x10' 3/4" maple plywood. Alternatively, you could use other materials that come in 10' and 12' lengths. That would be much easier than going through all of the trouble of making long panels out of 8' sheets. Always cool videos and I usually learn something I've never seen before.
Like other's have posted, you need to find a wholesaler that sells to millwork shops. They stock material that your not going to find at home depot's. I order 5' x 10' hardwood plywood and MDF from my supplier. The commercial MDF is so much superior then outlet store junk. The edges paint just as easy as the faces. Keep up the good work. Love the channel.
I always enjoy your videos, thanks for making them! When I have to end join ply for stairs I do similar as you. Put 2 dominoes the same as you, but instead of the lamello of clamps, I drill a ½"pocket hole on either edge of ply,and sink a pair 3" grk screw cabinet style screws in. Pulls them together fantastic. Biggest sets Ive done are 18', and strong enough to carry around and place into position.
An alternative would be to make full use of the $1,200 investment in a Festool DOMINO Joiner by using their connectors. They provide similar functionality to the Lamello fasteners, thereby saving an $800 investment in a new, special-purpose tool.
Spencer, Love the channel. I would suggest if you do more bookcases like this that you make one shelf a permanent/non adjustable shelf (usually at about desk height). That is where I would normally place the joint for the rear 1/4" ply. I'm guessing these are going to be painted but if they were to be stained we would make end panels out of solid stock or use a detail where the joint would be. Many times the detail will tie in with the non adjustable shelf. I also think you could do without the Lemello since you are clamping and the glue sets in just a few minutes. Where I have used the Lemello is when building parts that need assembly on site the are not structural. BTW I just watch recently your video for the coffered ceilings and loved the tip for the angled sides. Your fit for the crown molding and stitching the corners was impressive!. Great stuff.
I've ran into this a handful of times and just cheated and put the joint behind the center of a shelf. Great technique though sir. Always nice to learn new things.
There are a couple small hardwood/sheet goods shops in my area that specialize in materials for trim work and cabinet makers, and they stock 5x5, 4x8, and 4x10 in several species. Ask your local cabinet shops where they get their sheet goods. Where I've had a similar requirement for taller than 8' cabinets, I've been able to get the owner to agree to a fixed shelf near the top to hide the joints on the inside of the boxes -- or even to build it as lower and upper boxes with trim to hid it. Where there are exposed ends and I don't have a design feature to hide the joint, I use veneer for a continuous surface (my cabinet maker supply shop has 10'+ veneer rolls).
I did a quick Google search and was able to find a lot of 4x10 hardwood plywood as well. I know in the past I was able to buy it. It’s EXPENSIVE, but it’s out there.
If you don‘t wanna have a whole just use the Tenso connectors, which are made especially for this purpose. The Clamex are just for detachable purposes and should not be glued according to the technical information from Lamello itself.
4 x 10 furniture grade plywood is readily available here in Southern California. I can phone an order in and pick it up in 45 minutes. You can even get 5 x 10 x 3/4 but it costs $200 per sheet.
I love the solution to this problem......but it does leave me wondering why you did not order 10 foot plywood. Is it not available where you are? I'm not being critical here. Far be it. I'm just asking.
I am not sure if they are still available, but we could get plywood 16'x5'x2" dimensioned a lot of ol' timers will tell you they used them for making grain boxes on wheels, or truck frames
hence 10 foot ply wood.... sure you could special order 10 foot ply.. ( take a mortgage loan out on you house to pay for it ) very cool video thanks for paying this forward... cheers!
59 YEAR OLD N.Y. FINNISH CARPENTER HERE I ENJOY YOUR CONTENT AND HUMBLENESS WHY DOES THE KID FROM FINISH CARPENTRY HAVE TWICE AS MANY SUBSCCRIBERS AS YOU NICE KID BUT WAS USING MDF ON EVERYTHING 2 YEARS AGO ? WTF
ITS AMAZON HOW MANY VIEWERS WANT TO KEEP BRINGING UP 10 FOOT SHEETS YEAH DUH YOU WOULD HAVE IF IT WAS A STOCK ITEM UNTIL ITS THEIR CHECKBOOK THEY WILL NEVER GET IT JUST ANOTHER MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK
if you're adding glue use the tenso! No need for clamex unless you want to be able to disassemble. I'd use two tenso's where you put the dominos and put the domino or some dowels in the middle.
I have a domino so would just end up doing dominoes and pocket holes (which I have done numerous times). I'm only posting this comment to offer an alternative. Thanks a ton for all the amazing videos Spencer. Dominoes and pinch dogs can also work. Pinch dogs are super cheap too, so no issue with long clamps.
Great video again!! Regarding the 1/4 playwood you could hide the othe 2’ feet behind the top shelf and nobody will see that because it’s behind of the 3/4 inch shelf if that’s what you use, again you’re without a doubt one of the best carpenters I’ve ever seen, thanks for sharing your knowledge .
When I had to do something similar to get greater-than-8-foot plywood for a cabinet project, where I needed the joint to be strong enough to be structural within the project, and not having a domino joiner (nor willing to buy one for only a couple of oversized cabinets), I just designed a 3-inch half lap joint. Lay out both pieces of plywood to be joined side by side, so that the edges to be joined are in a line along one side of this big 'panel', and clamp them down so that they're flush and flat within the same plane, along with a piece of scrap from the same material, long enough to also be clamped with the other two pieces. Then clamp down a straight edge, use repeated passes from a circular saw to hog out most of it, and a surfacing router bit to smooth it. Oh, and the scrap piece? Unclamp that periodically and dry fit it to the half-lap cut on both pieces to be joined, to sneak up on the depth and make sure the cut is deep enough to leave a fingertip-smooth flush joint. For one part of it that needed to be especially strong, rather than trust to just the 3" half-lap, I clamped a tall sacrificial surface to my table saw rip fence, as you might to make a simple tenoning jig, and used repeated passes to plow out a 1/2" spline groove in each edge of the 3/4" plywood, couple inches deep, and about a foot on either side of the half-lap joint, then filled those with some 1/2" x 2' scrap plywood pieces for splines (hardwood splines would have been stronger, but I didn't have any on hand in that size that wasn't 'spoken for' in other projects). The edging treatment not only hid the raw plywood edges, but any evidence of these splines as well. The time to remove the material for the half laps and the edge grooves for the splines wasn't exactly a 'production pace', but it did make for some strong oversized plywood project parts.
I use 1/2" for all my backs. There's hardly any cost savings going with 1/4". 1/2" can be spliced, it's thick enough to take a few biscuits. I build a lot of frameless cabinets, and the back is the primary squaring component on these, so I quit using 1/4" on euro boxes a couple decades ago. 1/4" is so flexible it is easy to cut larger pieces off square, 1/2" just registers better against the fence when cutting. A lot of times I have open upper bookcases stacked on top of a base cabinet with a finished countertop - the 1/2" ply is much better when you don't have a bottom on your upper, you can get a straighter line where the back follows the wall. Awesome video as always!
Bro your craftsmanship and videos are on point. The way you explain what you do and why you do it and how it's executed are amazing. I love watching your videos and have learned so much from you. I appreciate you sharing your skills with us
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing this technique, really appreciate your generosity in sharing your goals, methods and the thinking that went into the final approach.
Beautiful cabinets. Not sure why pocket holes are on the outside of the face frame at beginning of video and at 13:15? I just finished building 3 each closets 10 feet high by 8, 9 and 10 feet wide. For the back panels I just positioned the the top shelves where they covered seems at 8 feet high. Too easy.
I would love to have a domino! Because I don’t the only other best option I could think of is making like a 4-5” lap joint so you have a lot of glue surface
You are a much better carpenter than I am Spencer, but brother putting your splice in line with the shelves would have hidden that and made the extra trim piece unnecessary You're the dude..
Hello Spencer in the first thirty seconds I said: domino! Note: per Sedge training, the domino's are slightly short of the mortise thus they leave room for the glue
I wonder if you could’ve hid that 1/4 ply seam behind a shelf, that would have been 🤌🏾 non the less, next level craftsmanship! Love your channel I’ve learned a ton!
Spencer I don't understand why you didn't use 3 dominos for all? I see no usw for The clamex. Besides that. This clamex is made for things you can detach. There is another Lamello for 1 time use and exactly for your application an that doesn't need a hole. But I guess you k ow and also have them
@@InsiderCarpentry where are you from? I am moving from Germany to Florida in 2 weeks and I am also a carpenter. Maybe we can get in touch? Do you have IG oder Whatsapp?
You can get plywood in sizes larger than 4’x8’; at least you can in the northeast. I have bought 5’x10’ plywood in the past, though I did have to drive almost 3 hours round trip to the nearest seller. I bought marine grade plywood from them but I believe they also sold 5’x10’ Baltic Birch. I’d imagine you would have to be able to find a similar seller out west. I’ve also made my own 3/4” plywood at 12’ lengths by simply using luaun plywood laminated with contact cement and scarf joints which when painted look like a single piece of material; even if you need a bare wood look or stained the joint is no more visible than any other panel joint.
You do great work and this is a fantastic video... but you can get 10' (even 12') sheet goods if you have access to the right supplier. We buy 5x8 & 5x10 all the time.
So many comments about 10' ply, in Canada that means Baltic birch at 170/sheet and is more of a high quality and strength project plywood than a high end wood finish
I don't know where your located, but in in Chicago land Owl Hardwoods handles many species at ten foot lengths. I know my customers would not accept a joint in stained material. Love your channel.
I love your videos. I have purchased 10' plywood in the past from a company called Fessenden Hall out of PA and New Jersey. It's not cheap but saves time which as you know is $$. Your technique is awesome as is all of your quality.
Hi Spencer, a very neat job and an impressive library. I notice that the front trim on the uprights seems to project slightly across the inside of the sides. If I am right this makes it awkward to fit and retrieve the book at each side. I often see this on made up bookshelves. I always make the trim flush with the insides of the bookshelf so books will slide easily against the sides. If this makes the trim a bit narrow for aesthetics I fit a packer between the modules to make it wider. Mike
Nice! I did something similar to that with some 9-foot built-ins I had to do. No clamex or Domino's, 15 years ago. Biscuits, glue, and long pipe clamps.. and then a Whole Lotta carefulness for the build. After all was said and done, they were solid as a rock, and the joint was a foot from the ceiling so never going to be an issue. Thankfully my (return) customer is still pleased and they're holding up well! I really really like your method a lot more, and I would feel totally confident in it! (Plus it's always been in the back of my mind if th dominoes would be a better way to do this nowadays:))
Try just gluing one side of the domino joint ? Unless the dominoes are fluted then there is no place for the displaced air to go the domino will still be giving you the strength in the joint and the clamex will pull the joint tight
