You mentioned a "birds mouth" joint and I tried to post what shows below but haven't seen it. Is there a compendium of joints anywhere? Tage Frid index to book 1 doesn't list it. Does birds mouth joint have another name, like bridle joint and slip joint?
Your suggesti>Don't discount the birds mouth joint for your planter.
Check the Lee Valley catalog. They sell a router bit just for that.
A bird's mouth is the notch cut in a rafter to receive the top plate of the wall.
Tom Watson - WoodDorker tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email)
Yup, that's the only one I know of by that name. I'm not quite sure how that works with a planter...
Dave in Fairfax
Semantics ... much like the term "dado", which has a completely different meaning to a classical architect than it does to a woodworker.
Named primarily, and conveniently, because of the way the joint looks, whether it be in frame construction, or planter boxes. A birds mouth router bit cuts a bird's mouth shaped joint that is perfect for spars, barrel shapes, and other multi-sided, hollow objects.
I'm having a hard time vusualizing this, bear with me. It sounds like a half-dovetail, sort of. Is that the corner joinery on the planter?
Dave in Fairfax
kind of. think if you set up a dado stack, tilted the arbor on your saw and plowed a groove down the edge of a board that the edge of another board just fit into. now the boards are joined in a trough. do a bunch of them together and they wrap all the way around into a tube.
Look here;
Lee Valley router bit and example.
Yup, makes much more sense now. I was thinking of a square planter. Thanks. Dave in Fairfax
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required