milling rockie advice.

[WoodED]

It depends on how you want to go....my tool of choice is an impact driver and 4" self tapping bolts.... joints I'm not so good on!

 

 

Will do more proper jointing when I have more time. The impact driver is quick, strong and can pull things together if you haven't quite got it right! I'll stick a vid up on it soon.

 

a vid would be spot on rob,

[agg221]

Mortice and tenon isn't too bad to cut. You can drill out the mortice and then whack in a chisel to clean the corners. The tenon only needs cutting at the base - chisel runs down the sides fast enough.

 

I must admit I like stainless steel coach screws though.

 

Alec

[WoodED]

Mortice and tenon isn't too bad to cut. You can drill out the mortice and then whack in a chisel to clean the corners. The tenon only needs cutting at the base - chisel runs down the sides fast enough.

 

I must admit I like stainless steel coach screws though.

 

Alec

 

mortise and tennon then glue i presume?

[agg221]

mortise and tennon then glue i presume?

 

Nope. Fit the joint together, drill through the first cheek of the mortice with an auger wood bit with a good screw point on it, using a depth gauge on the drill to only get the screw point into the tenon. Knock down the joint and complete the drilled hole through the mortice (through or into the other side, depending on whether it's a blind or clear hole). Then mark a point slightly further down the tenon from the original mark. Down in this case means the point that would have lined up if you had pushed the tenon slightly further in. In a 3"x4" I'd be drilling the holes at 12mm or half inch and go for a point about 1mm further down (yes I'm mixing metric and imperial so you can have 1/32" if you prefer!) and drill there with the same drill bit.

 

Before doing this, make a dowel plate by drilling a bit of 10mm steel plate with a metal bit the same size as the wood bit. Take a block of fairly well seasoned oak about 6" long (could be a bit of firewood) and split it up into squareish bits about half inch square, which can be done with an inch wide chisel and a mallet. Trim the ends of the squareish bits to a slight chamfered taper to give them a start and whack them through the dowel plate with a mallet. If they get stuck, turn it over, knock them back and trim off a bit more of the stuck corner with a chisel, then back in and carry on. Trim the end to a slight taper again and you have your dowel peg. You want to use them quite quickly after making them as the fibres are temporarily compressed by passing through the plate and will swell back up, which is part of the point.

 

When you put the joint back together, the slight taper on the end of the dowel will let it clear the step on the edge of the two not-quite-aligned holes and as the dowel is hammered in it will pull the joint very tight.

 

No glue needed and very effective - you just need to play around with how much offset to put between the drilled mortice and tenon holes and how much taper on the dowel, to make sure it can all be assembled. It does work though and is a very elegant approach.

 

Alec

[welsh wood]

Google tusk tenon,this joint was used in the good old days to trim joists around

stair cases and fire places Ohh... the good old days of carpentry,now it's all joist hangers held together by a few nails.

[agg221]

Google tusk tenon,this joint was used in the good old days to trim joists around

stair cases and fire places Ohh... the good old days of carpentry,now it's all joist hangers held together by a few nails.

 

I've seen those - didn't know what they were called though. Very nice.

 

On a derailing note, don't suppose you know the correct way to fix a rafter to a wall plate do you? Cutting a birdsmouth is fine, but there's something rather unsatisfactory about banging in a pair of crossed nails!

 

Alec

[welsh wood]

Hi Alec,afraid not,drive in the nails.you can get truss clips from any builders merchant for a few pence and its more important that the wallolate is strapped down to the wall these gal straps are also available from the same place.rafters @ min 600m centres.

[agg221]

Hi Alec,afraid not,drive in the nails.you can get truss clips from any builders merchant for a few pence and its more important that the wallolate is strapped down to the wall these gal straps are also available from the same place.rafters @ min 600m centres.

 

Cheers, as it happens mine will have no truss clips - whole thing will be wooden. I think I've found my answer - I need housed birdsmouths with external pegging. Agree with you on strapping down the wallplate. My rafters are at 400mm centres - roof was engineer designed and is probably overkill but will definitely not fall down!

 

Slightly back on track - the method I described for drilling the holes slightly off line so they pull up tight is called draw-boring.

 

Alec

[Rob D]

Cheers, as it happens mine will have no truss clips - whole thing will be wooden. I think I've found my answer - I need housed birdsmouths with external pegging. Agree with you on strapping down the wallplate. My rafters are at 400mm centres - roof was engineer designed and is probably overkill but will definitely not fall down!

 

Slightly back on track - the method I described for drilling the holes slightly off line so they pull up tight is called draw-boring.

 

Alec

 

 

 

Do you have a camera phone or similar Alec? A step by step vid on doing a mortise and tennon would be good

[WoodED]

Do you have a camera phone or similar Alec? A step by step vid on doing a mortise and tennon would be good

 

yup i second that