Cutting notches

[polygonum]

Why do I think that Latin is not the best and most widely understood language here? (Sometimes it appears to be Anglo-Saxon. :-) )

[John Rumm]

Lol

Every time I figure there must be a limit to harry's ignorance, he just has to go and prove me wrong again...

[John Rumm]

Ah yes, that fine and well known manufacturer of pergolas, decking, sheds and other garden woodwork projects.

..snip handtool marking and cutting procedure...

Can't disagree with that in principle if you are a wood working Neanderthal^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h sorry hand tool champion.

However even Chipendale might have found a more production oriented way of doing in a modern workshop.

Now back to the actual problem at hand

...and yet what we need in this situation is the handyman solution.

Not true - aided with a sawboard even a fairly basic circular saw can position the edge of a kerf with more than adequate accuracy for this task. If you have a decent SCMS with trenching capability, then its very quick and easy.

In your hands perhaps, but don't speak for the rest of us.

[The Natural Philosopher]

A router can cut a slot to a finer tolerance than the wood can maintain with humidity changes.

[Matty F]

Not useful in this case, but I like this joint that I made:

[harryagain]

They only get away with it because the timber is massively oversized. They do it because it's an appearance thing.

[harryagain]

Only the width of a single pass with a router can be accurate. Assuming the cutter is new.

[harryagain]

Interesting one that. But still massively weak. If you'd just nailed that together it would have been stronger.

[polygonum]

If you are so megafantastic at this wood mangling, would you care to post a link or two to some of your own work at this standard? Nice big photos so we can see the joints clearly.

Otherwise Thomas rules.

As in doubting rather than Chippendale.

[The Medway Handyman]

What colour is the sky on your planet?

[The Other Mike]

The colour of 50 quid notes (if the sun is out)

[Matty F]

I forgot to mention that I made that joint when I was 14 years old, so I apologise for its crudity. The whole point of the joint is that people are supposed to wonder how it's put together.

[Huge]

In which case it works a treat. How is it put together? (It does taper, right?)

[Matty F]

Here it is taken apart:

Note that the Douglas Fir tree rings are close together, so it was not grown in NZ, where Douglas Fir grows five times faster.

[John Rumm]

I would guess a little like those four sided dovetail joints that also look impossible. One is led to assume that the back of the socket for the dovetail pin is flat, when in reality it slopes down and has a wider acceptance slot below the top surface of the timber with the socket. The pin can be bent down a little as its inserted, and then springs up into final position. The shoulders of the pin hide the side of the timber with the socket, so you don't see the extra slot.

[Huge]

Ahhhh. Makes sense after a bit of head scratching.

[dennis]

Why? A router has jigs, fences, etc. so it can be as accurate as you are prepared to work to. You can certainly make dovetails and stuff as accurately as a chippendale is with a little practice and the correct jigs and cutters. The biggest problem is finding any good wood that you can a££ord.

[dennis]

In which direction?

[newshound]

Wood glues provide considerable shear strength, but not much tensile strength. In your half-lap, the "filled" notch on the compression side gives you back just about all of the strength. But the notch on the tension side depends on the tensile strength of the glue. So (assuming it is a "floor" with the loads downwards) you want the notches in the top face of the "more important" timber.

[harryagain]

They used it because it didn't rot much and it was common. They didn't use it for masts/yards etc because it was too weak.