my own Soundboard

[Greg Newell]

Stephen,
    I was speaking of a butt joint with end grain. A Scarf joint is a different animal
entirely. Your right, of course, that it can be a very strong joint if done correctly and
it is found on most long bridges in many pianos. The rest of your post is very good and
basic woodworking information. Thank  you for the reminder!

Greg

Stephen Birkett wrote:

> Greg wrote:
> > Thanks Del. I was still talking about edge gluing. I would not advocate
> > joining two pieces end to end in a soundboard situation. Never crossed
> > my mind.
>
> Well the (real) old guys did this often enuf if their wood wasn't long enuf - why not?
> A long scarf joint is _very_ strong and can be made almost invisible if done right.
>
> > Has anyone ever tried gluing up
> > 2 boards first, then adding one at a time until the desired panel size
> > is achieved? I know there it is added time involved but it does allow
> > you to concentrate on one glue joint at a time.
>
> Well yes. but you can do more than one at once....
>
> > Can anyone suggest a better approach or a way I could perhaps
> > tune this jig to more usability?
>
> Use hide glue and soap the table underneath each edge joint you will be making. This
> prevents the glue from bonding to the tabletop. No need for a fancy pants jig if your
> edges are properly jointed. Work in pairs...glue them and clamp the whole against a
> fixed edge using wedge clamps. Only light pressure is needed - just enuf to hold the
> eedges together. Some cross pieces lightly clamped to the tabletop by a few gobars or
> whatever will keep the whole thing flat and lined up. Rememebr you're only gluing edges
> in pairs first. Once you have your pairs glued lightly surface them and re-joint the
> edges. Now glue up the pairs of pairs the same way and repeat the re-jointing.  etc.
> You can glue up a whole panel this way very easily, and working in pairs allows you to
> keep using the planer to clean up quite a few of the joints if needed (or hand plane is
> also easy). Soaping the tabletop prevents the panel and tabletop forming a partnership.
>
> Stephen
>
> Stephen Birkett Fortepianos
> Authentic Reproductions of 18th and 19th Century Pianos
> 464 Winchester Drive
> Waterloo, Ontario
> Canada N2T 1K5
> tel: 519-885-2228
> mailto: birketts@wright.aps.uoguelph.ca

--
Greg Newell
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net