How to join 2 boards

[agg221]

If it's more rustic and you aren't sure that the wood won't move and open up a gap, or you can't get a perfect line along the join, a fairly easy alternative is to make a feature of the join and use butterfly joints. I can't draw them, but see link here for examples:

 

https://mechantdesign.blogspot.com/2013/08/butterfly-joints.html

 

If you use a piece of contrasting coloured wood, cut them right through with a saw, glue in and sand off flat then they will hold pretty much anything. Also good for dealing with splits.

 

Alec

 

[Steve Bullman]

4 minutes ago, manco said:

a nail?

Yeah well done, didn’t think about that 

[Woodworks]

15 minutes ago, agg221 said:

If it's more rustic and you aren't sure that the wood won't move and open up a gap, or you can't get a perfect line along the join, a fairly easy alternative is to make a feature of the join and use butterfly joints. I can't draw them, but see link here for examples:

 

 

 

 

 

Butterly joint can be very attractive and I have used them on a few jobs over the years. Not got any pictures of them on a top but here are some around the edge of this set of tables. They are immensely strong

[Steve Bullman]

23 hours ago, Woodworks said:

If you are going to joining board often get a biscuit jointer. Brilliant piece of kit and you dont need to be so precise about positioning as you do with dowels. You can also get cutter to use in a router to do biscuit joints. For a good join you do need the faces of the two boards to meet up near perfectly.

 

PVA glues dont gap fill but are cheap and easy to use

PU (Gorrila) glues do gap fill but will not be strong if there are gaps. 

Epoxy will gap fill with strength but are costly 

 

If you have a circular saw set up a straightedge clamped down the length of the boards. Make sure the blade is set perfectly square to base of the saw and blade is sharp. Do a couple of practice passes with blade retracted so you know you can run the saw down the length of the board without rocking ie keeping the saw base perfectly flush with the board throughout the cut. With a bit of luck this should give you a pretty clean square edge. In the ideal world you would run a plane down it to clean off the saw marks for a near invisible joint. Be warned though a blunt plane not set up right might  make more of a mess than the sawn edges. 

Would one of these be able to do the job of a biscuit jointer?

 

Einhell 4465160 VARRITO 18V Cordless Multi-Tool (Body Only) | Toolden

WWW.TOOLDEN.CO.UK

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[Steve Bullman]

Ignore that, just treated myself to a jointer 

[Bob_z_l]

51 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

Ignore that, just treated myself to a jointer 

I use a biscuit joint bit in a router.  Trying to make the most of one tool. 
Look forward to the progress photos.   :-)

 

 

https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-biscuit-jointing-kit-47mm-4-pcs/65290

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by Bob_z_l

[Macpherson]

5 hours ago, Bob_z_l said:

I use a biscuit joint bit in a router.  Trying to make the most of one tool. 
Look forward to the progress photos.   🙂

 

 

https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-biscuit-jointing-kit-47mm-4-pcs/65290

 

Me too 👍