I was looking at some photos of bandsaw boxes when I noticed that on one, the joins where the different pieces were re-glued back together, seemed to have a neat black line between the two pieces. It gave it a nice hi-lite on the join rather than trying to hide it. How is this done?
I remember seeing something similar on boat decking where there was a black line between the boards that made up the deck.
Thanks Jaz.
If it's net and deliberate, usually a black-tinted filled epoxy. There are a few glues that will give a black line anyway (just look at some plywood) but to give a deliberate one, epoxy is the favourite. You can fill it and colour it (artist's acrylics) without distrubing the glue strength.
What Andy said re the boxes. The black lines between boat planking are different. Instead of attempting to create a perfect edge butt joint between two planks, the edges are planed on a slight bevel, so that when the two planks are fixed to the frames, an open Vee-shaped joint runs the full length of the planks. This is then sealed by caulking the joint by driving in oakum (dunno what the modern equivalent is - the old boys used to use worn-out ropes which were cut to convenient lengths then teased out) with a hammer and a wide blunt chisel (caulking iron).
To stop the caulking working out and to seal things, a layer of pitch or tar was run along the joint after caulking, which is what gives you the black line between planks.
The whole purpose of the system was to allow the planks to work as the ship flexed with the wind and waves, but to keep water out at the same time.
You'll get a much more detailed and erudite explanation if you take a look at Dave Fleming's website.
Cheers,
Frank
Contrasting veneer.
On Mon, 8 Nov 2004 13:01:12 -0000, "Frank McVey" calmly ranted:
I think you'll have to ask him over on abpw. He doesn't have time or patience to follow the Wreck any more.
I'm not sure about the bandsaw box you described, but a typical teak boat deck would be installed much like a regular outdoor patio deck where you use a small spacer between the boards. The space is then filled (on a boat that is) with a polysulfide caulk which is usually black.
Do you have a link to a picture of the box you're talking about?
It sounds like you're describing this:
brian
Very small chamfers at the board edges before glueup. The black line is either a shadow, stain or collected grime.
BW
Thanks, Larry
The picture is in a book called the Art of Making Elegant Jewelry Boxes written by Tony Lydgate. (Sterling Publishing Co. Inc, New York) Pg 55 is a picture of a Bristlecone Pine Box by Paul & Cinda Brimhall of Colarado. The curved drawers shown are re-glued with the black filling in the joins. Because the joins are both straight angles and curved I think the black caulking seems like the answer. It looks very neat and intentional. Thanks, Jaz Also it's a great book anyway.
Sorry I meant to say epoxy as Andy Dingley suggested, not caulking. Thanks, Jaz
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In addition to the other methods posted there is a much more difficult way to achieve a similar effect, as with dovetail joints.
For routed dovetails this can be done like this:
You make one side of the joint, say the tail side, and then make a mating piece of a contrasting wood as a stub, just long enough to hold the pins. Glue that together, trim off the excess of the stub and then route new tails inside of the pins using a smaller dovetail bit and match that to the final pinboard.
I've seen boxes at woodworking shows that were done that way to show the capabilities of fancy router jigs.
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