I have to join some extra wide work top at approx 90 deg. As my worktop jig is not long enough, I was considering just butt joining and there is no bullnose profile, however there will still be a small shamfer on the edge of the worktop that I need to accomodate. Any suggestions on this?
If I were doing this I would make a template from which the exact angle of the joint could be measured. Approx 90 deg is not in my book. Mark the timber from angles calculated from the template. Cut timber and plane the edges until the fit is good and satisfactory. A butt joint is unlikely to be satisfactory especially when trying to join end grain (presuming this is wood). Some options:
1) rout the two end grains and use a fillet. Easy, invisible and strong. 2) use dowels. Invisible but can be tricky. Not strong. 3) use butterfly joints or keys of a contrasting timber (ash,beech, hornbeam etc). Very strong. Requires manual dexterity but the effect can be stunning. Needs to be done on both surfaces of solid timber.
If you accept rounded corners you can make a jig to cut similar joints with a router.
I think I will call them figure of eight joints. ;-)
What do you mean by "oak"? If it's real timber, then remember to allow for expansion & contraction with moisture, which can be sizable across the grain. It sounds like you're building a cross-grain joint here, so that's potentially 1/2", maybe even 1" you're looking at.
At most .05% on well seasoned wood. To get 1/2" would require over 8 ft of top and total soaking.
Ive done it here simply by running a router into one top to make it perfectly square and slightly inset. Same on end of other piece and and hand rounding thee other pice to match.
I clamped it underneath with battens and used PU glue on the joints. Its been fine for 8 years.
Sorry I don't think I made it totaly clear what I was doing. This is an Oak kitchen work top joining two peices in an L section (but probably not exactly 90deg as kitchen walls never are), I will use worktop bolts underneath worktop will be supplied made up in strips of Oak.
yep. That exactly what I have too.
Essentially cut them accurately, use a waterproof glue to gap fill, and clamp like hell.
Yes, would you accomodate the 3mm chamfer, and if so cutting that seperately with say a small tennon saw at 45 deg? So effectivley a very shallow male and female joint?
Not easy. I think I might router off the chamfer for the length of the joint and finish the corner with a tenon saw. Then again, I might just live with the groove, which at least I know would be straight :-)
Thanks, I also have heard some people use silicon sealent in the join rather than wood glue,what does the panel think about this?
Of..didn't know you had a chamfer..yes..inset one the chamfer width into the other basically. An make a 45 dree end on with a saw.
I used a router if i remember right, and actually put the two bits almost together, and clamped a guide on, and then ran the router between them so as to get a perfect match.
Routes are te easiest way to get very straight, very perpendicular cuts..rough saw first and then use the router as a plane..
ugly and cant be sanded.
better to use epoxy.
This is going to be tricky, I reckon: I had the same issue a couple of years ago and my solution was....I sourced a worktop with a square edge and no chamfer (it also happened to be way cheaper!). I joined that with biscuits and clamps which was great, although I wish I had put (even) more biscuits in the join as the front inch or so has come out of line since I fitted it.
The problem with routing off to recess the 'female' is the inevitable curve at the front edge where the router stops: A 45 degree slice would be better.
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