I'm a dutch student for woodworking, and our school uses your videos for homework. You can explain everything so much better than my teachers, thankyou❤
Thank you SO much! The clamp that you showed at the beginning is exactly what I need to make! I'm trying to repurpose my old coffee table & end table into a desk. I didn't want to waste any wood, nor have to buy anymore. I'll use whatever is left over to make shelves! Ta-da, new office set-up!
That little clamp jig for pulling the two ends together is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks! (I have three 5m long handrails to pull together end to end)
In order of preference I use floating tenons then biscuits and then splines depending on the project. Dowels are pretty much a pita unless you have an expensive jig. Yellow glue has a tensile of about 3,000psi which I have found adequate for this task. Most of the hardwoods I deal with are not as strong as the glue. I have a hardwood encyclopedia that actually gives these values for various species.
I have that same dowel jig (Dowelmax). The tiny bit of lip was probably introduced when aligning the jig with the brass bar by feel. When I'm careful enough my dowels align perfectly.
your jig gives me an idea for my workmate bench...a couple of holes to clamp the boards down - one each side of the workmate - and simply close the workmate to hold the glued ends together. Might be less fussing to align the boards. 👍🏽
The use that has to be made for the elongated board and then eventually aesthetically issues determine the method used, the plain but joint and also the method with finger joint bits are only strong enough for pieces that has not meant to receive high loads, the butt joint with substantial dowels, but also a loose tenon that is possibly even better and not much longer to do and the half lap joint can withstand some stress, even if the full strength of a board with no joints can never be matched. The skewed joint is probably the one less noticeable, but is not particularly strong, only marginally better then a but joint, there is a reason if in furniture restoration skewed joints and patches are so often used, the joint line is not perpendicular to the grain and the eye sees it less easily, while notices immediately that line at 90° to the grain. So an other very interesting, but a little more technically challenging solution is to combine skewed joint and half lap joint like do the Japanese, the joint is skewed in a direction on a face and in the opposite direction on the other face and they form a half lap, there are even more raffinate versions, but this is easy to do with a router and some ingenuity. And you get the eye pleasing skew joint and the strong half lap at once.
Love your videos. Wingnuts or homemade star knobs for the win Colin. If I need to torque them down a bit tighter, it's pretty easy to do with a pair of pliers, or a bigger handle jig
I found out that if you put a glue on both ends and wait a bit and then mix a fine sawdust with a wood glue and apply it together it makes a way stronger bond than just a wood glue . I also use it to fix holes.
Collin. Thanks for this video. Any input on using epoxy vrs wood glue.. this is going in boat application under deck... its hard to get 19-23 foot boards. I stumbled across a different technique. Lap joint then dowel through. Think it fits my needs best. Your technique is better for stretching boards. yes that knot gets me Every time.
I've used pocket holes in the past to create a "longer" piece. Works well.... I'd say better than just glue alone. Thought I'd provided another alternative..... 👍🏼 Pocket holes on 1 side with glue.... then attach end to end.
As every one that has restored broken and bad repaired chairs knows some times the screws make a joint weaker, not stronger as the metal is harder then the wood and chews it. For a lap joint that does need more then the glue, that has plenty of strength, possibly the screws make the joint last even shorter then the glue alone, and if more then a glued half lap is required probably it is better to discard the board at replace it with a longer one. Pocket holes are a great way to obtain quick and easy results, but only in some specific uses, you can make some kind of box construction very strong using them, but not use them to make something longer.
@@andreachinaglia5804 Pocket holes are great, but not always, especially if it's going to be seen. As glue becomes part of the wood, I prefer to glue when I can. Although I do see the benefit of screws as long as they won't need to be plugged for aesthetics.
@@aprildegele1510 I prefer to use proper traditional joints, western or japanese ones, with or without glue depending on the situation, I don't trust glue only, it is strong, but if something is build to last a long time the things are different, I noticed that when something fails it is the wood in new works, but often the glue if the failure happens after some years, I don't know if it is because the glue crystallize and becomes brittle or because is strong if tested for maximum strength but does not perform so well if exposed at prolonged fatigue. The screws are always my last choice, I use them mainly when I want to build something that can be disassembled in smaller parts to carry it around or for very utilitarian items where aesthetics and long life are not an issue. Studying the works of the past we can know what will last a long time and what not, having myself worked in furniture restoration I trust some traditional methods to join wood and don't trust much both screws and glue only, in spite of the tests that tell us that glue is stronger then wood. poket hole screws are great only for some specific use, when they are in a spot that is not seen and mainly for box building, I don't trust them at all in frame building. many old japanese buildings and temples have survived centuries in a land where earthquakes are a real problem, relying only on proper joinery, we will see if the modern way of building with screws and glue will give the same durability.
Dang! I thought you'd invented a board stretcher :D I volunteer in a woodshop and have randomly asked newbies to get the board stretcher for me ... and watched them look all over the shop before asking where it was. Thanks for the tips! Also, if you're going to glue oily exotics, you'll want to clean the glue surface with acetone before applying glue. Learned the hard way as we all do.
Have you thought about adding coil springs to the jig to help separate the clamp when you are inserting boards to avoid the clumsy task of keeping them open as you insert your boards?
Great jig Colin. I cant help but wonder if you could remove the need for octopus arms by using steel rods to stop the two sides flopping while you align the wood. I am thinking something similar to that used on a router fence. It would add rigidity but still allow the bolts to pull the ends together. If I can find time I may try it. Just a thought.
Muy buen video gracias... I have found your videos to be very educational and interesting, thank you for helping us who are trying to learn to work with wood, God bless you for your great effort, I have subscribed to your channel ...
You can make your scarf joint stronger by lowering the angle of join. The lower the angle, the more parallel the fibers become. like to use an 8 to 1 ratio, but 4 to 1 would probably be okay. Scarfing is a technique is used by boatbuilders to make planks continuous (they generally use a 12 to 1 ratio).
As Patrick Sullivan proved in his testing, end grain to end grain butt joint is stronger than side to side using PVA glue. I always thought end grain gluing was weaker but no. I usually do the pre application just in case though. Let's not forget one of the strongest joints, the half lap. Also very easy.
Or you can use a board stretcher but I’d recommend you use it in conjunction with a left-handed skyhook to get the best results. I’ve found that if I use this method I can get as much as three inches out of a 24” board. Using a right-handed skyhook will only give you 1”.
I have a question. I'm just a beginner that wants to make a 76 inches bed an I only have a wood pallet that has 40 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 1 inch thick. I'm planning to butt joint it together to have 76 inches single board for the side of the bed. My question is the scarf method is enough to hold those 2 wood to be used as a bed frame? I can't do the dowel joint coz I don't have the right equipment and experience. If you guys have suggestions, please let me know. I need your help. Thank you! Amazing channel!
I have a Dowelmax and as you noted, there is a learning curve in their use. You had that "lip" because you used that offset carelessly. They are very finicky as to lining up. If anyone gets one, pay close attention to the videos the company makes as to how you are supposed to line up your workpieces. I have joined so very many pieces that had a "lip" on them due to careless/improper use of the jig. It is not the fault of the jig, it is user error.
hello, thx for this nice video. I have a question. How can one join small parts on a jointer? I mean something like 30 mm tall 40 mm width and 200 mm long, and on the one side it is not 40 mm but 10 mm?
In aviation use, the wood is scarfed on the wide edge rather than the arrow edge. This gives you a lot more surface area for the glue and makes a much stronger joint.
Always like it when I see a new video out from Colin Knecht! Thought the doweling joint was good. Finger joint was good too. Never seen a collar on a drill bit before - that's a good, useful idea . I'll be looking for some of those after this... (Hope they exist) Also, the measuring bar - would love some of those. Always learning stuff from Colin :-)
This couldn't have popped into my feed on a better day! I'm building a ladder shelf. I have no idea what happened but somehow I cut one rear leg a full half inch short! I even clamped and cut them together! No idea... Anyway, because of the angles I was going to need to add a half inch OR do the math and re-cut all four angles! I think i might do the dowels or the jig!
Doing a low budget roofing job for my shed. Can 4x2 or 6x2 rafters be joined like this ? My wood is in 2m lengths but my span is 5m. It’s only a tin roof but I wanted to connect the short timbers for maximum flexural strength. Not interested in cosmetic look, or is there a better easier way to connect two timbers end to end eg bracing with side plates ? Thanks.
Wouldn't be best to combine techniques? For instance, scarf joint, dowels and putting glue on 15 minutes before then adding more glue. Another possibility would be scarf joint plus finger joint.
The finger joint router bits are a bit fussy to set up and highly dependent on the stock thickness. If the stock is the wrong thickness you’ll end up with a finger on both the top and bottom surface, or a slot on both, and you’ll have to shift the depth of the bit by half the offset to get it to line up right.
How can you avoid fussing in any case, with any thickness stock? Any installing of router bit requires cut-and-try. The difficulty I see is avoiding a feather edge, or shifting the bit for a second pass for the mating piece.
@@leehaelters6182 You need a digital height gauge. The fingers on the bit have a specific offset ( I believe it is 4mm for the Freud bit ), so you would need to lower or raise the bit by half that amount.
The finger joint, the fingers must line up or the joint won't work. In the final frame after viewing, if the pale and dark timbers both had long fingers on the outsid, you would be in trouble. Adjusting the router bit height would overcome this.
They also used to be used (and may even still be) for the repair some aircraft wooden wing spars. But if I recall correctly from A&P school, doublers are used on both sides of the joint. There were a ton of rules pertaining to such repairs. Tricky business...
I just saw an interesting video, wish I could reference it, where the guy meticulously measured max stress for glue joints side to side, end to side and end to end. Shockingly, end to end is the strongest! The glue is stronger than the wood and the long fibrous cellulose is way stronger than the binding lignin. So in edge joints the lignin fails. In butt joints extreme force is necessary to get the glue to fail. Of course, no joint is better than an end to end glue joint. Opened my eyes.
A few different options there, think I might tend to stick with the finger jointing option, it appears to be the strongest joint, in my opinion anyways! 😉 Great information, Colin, cheers mate.👍🏽
As an apprentice, the time I half lapped a broken broomstick together, complete with cross dowels and swelled with pride of craftsmanship, was an excellent engineering lesson for me. The flexing of the half-thicknesses of stock at each end of the joint, prying itself open with every stroke of the broom was a constant embarrassment.
On April 1 you can let your viewers in on the biggest kept secret: The ACME Board Stretcher by Road Runner Industries, they also manufacture Portable Holes, Anvils, and Rockets for the "Wiley" of Wood Workers.... Sorry Colin, I couldn't stop thinking that throughout the presentation... these are great tips.