Suggestion for joints on garden furniture

[ohdearme]

Please don't be too disparaging to me as I intend to use butt joints for my softwood garden furniture. I fixed some bannisters last week using home made 18mm (big) dowels
with grooves, going in deep and the work is very solid. However, folk on You tube are using sunken bolts, covered with short dowels so that the bolts don't show.
Which would you suggest please?

And can I use a filler on knots before knotting?

Thanks to all by the way for your recent help

 

[Burnerman]

Just look up lap and housing joints, simple to do and give a good surface area for glue.....could you use them anywhere?
John

 

[ohdearme]

Yes John, lap joints sound good, thank you, what do you think about dowels going into both pieces or bolts and "covering" dowels?
Enjoy the day.

 

[Burnerman]

Sure, no problem really...it isn't always best to screw into end grain but it can't be avoided from time to time. Dowels are frequently used to peg mortise and tenon joints once they have been made.
Enjoy your project!
John

 

[ohdearme]

I am beginning to get some confidence (thanks to you). Trouble now is cutting one part of a lap joint, I have to saw "sideways" and I cannot think of a way to get a long piece of timber on my bench vertically so that I can cut the "normal "way.

Any ideas please?
Best

Alan

 

[Burnerman]

The traditional way for cutting a lap joint - once it has been marked out with a marking gauge - is to incline the length of timber in the vice at say 45 degrees and then cut down with a tenon saw, then reverse the timber and saw down the uncut side......theoretically cutting on the waste side of the line. That comes with practice!
Then, the waste can either be removed with a broad blade chisel or my mounting the timber vertical if possible to finish off.
Two main obstacles here.....
1) Sometimes the lengths of timber are too long to be comfortably held
2) The nasty quick grown / quick dried rubbish that manifests itself as timber that we have to work with these days is almost impossible to cut properly....the grain being so open that chiselling is nigh on impossible.
John

 

[ohdearme]

Thank you John, I have to go out this morning but I intend to do at least two later on. I imagine the first will be dreadful, the second..well you know.

I am sure I'll be back, enjoy the day.

Alan

 

[WoOt]

Share some pics when you're done. Thanks!

 

[ohdearme]

Most definitely. The least you can do when people help you is to give them a laugh!
Best
Alan

 

[conny]

Practise on a few scrap pieces first before tackling 'the real job'.

As for using dowels, I sometimes use hidden dowels if I am making a frame with 'slim' timber. Drill the edge of one piece to accept 2 dowels close to each other. Insert dowel marker pins into the holes then press it against the end grain of the other piece of timber. Now drill the corresponding holes, remove the pin markers, smear som glue on the dowels and assemble.

 

[ohdearme]

Seems good Conny, one carpenter on you tube mentioned that a lap joint has no resistance to a twisting motion. I wondered if a dowel slightly off perpendicular to the timber might help increase the resistance.