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Author Topic: Half Lap Joints  (Read 3359 times)

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bball

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Half Lap Joints
« on: May 10, 2003, 02:02:40 pm »
From searching the web it seems like a common method of making half lap joints is to make a bunch of kerf cuts with a circular saw and then chisel away the remaining wood (http://doityourself.com/power/quickhalflapjoints.htm).  This seems like it might chip the wood causing a sloppy join in the end.  Has anyone tried this method ?  I was think of just using a router to router out the entire chunk of wood but it seems like that might take a while.

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wee beastie

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Re:Half Lap Joints
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2003, 04:56:47 pm »
bbal,

if done properly this will hold well.  The trick is to chisel evenly then sand ever so slighly.  Then, you can connect using your favorite joint compound/glue.  

Ideally you can use a radial arm saw that can make cuts adjacent to each other.  This way you don't have to chisel anything as the blade will cut it all away.   I'm not sure I would suggest doing this with a handheld circular saw, though as the saw may jump.  I could be wrong on this, but do so at your own risk as I've only done this using my radial arm saw.

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Re:Half Lap Joints
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2003, 06:47:55 pm »
You can also use your router but you would have to support the router so that the cuts would be even so a jig is probably called for.  Also the lap joint would probably be made in several passes with the depth being increased with each pass.   A nice clean joint could be done with a router but only if a proper supporting jig was fabricated.  Really not a hard job.

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Re:Half Lap Joints
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2003, 02:51:11 am »
Thanks for the input, I am going to experiment with both methods.  I was talking to someone earlier who said the saw/chisel method works well if you have a pretty sharp chisel.  I still think I'm leaning towards the router method but we'll see how the experiments go :)

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skirge66

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Re:Half Lap Joints
« Reply #4 on: May 11, 2003, 03:27:50 am »
I know you didn't spacificly ask about it, another method you might think about is using a table saw (if you have access to one) using a dato blade, very fast and works like a champ...but the blade isn't cheap.

just a thought
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Re:Half Lap Joints
« Reply #5 on: May 12, 2003, 09:46:22 am »
Routers and/or table saws will do a better job, especially if the joint will be visible.

The web site you were looking at was for building framing with does not require perfect joints.
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