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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=gnewell@ameritech.net =
href="mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net">Greg
Newell</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> January 14, 2002 2:50 =
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: my own =
Soundboard</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Oh Del, do elucidate before I mercilessly butcher some =
poor
unsuspecting tree. ;-) Seriously, I don't want to waste wood. What =
will happen
with a finger joint in Sitka. BTW where can I get some Sitka?
<P>Greg </P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080></FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080>If you're considering fingerjoints to =
butt two
pieces of the stuff together the right type of finger joint will work. =
But I
assume you're talking about edge gluing here. </FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080>Sitka spruce is pretty nasty stuff to =
machine
cleanly when you get down to small thicknesses and shapes. With any edge =
shape
as extreme as a fingerjoint of normal slope would result in the wood =
peeling,
stripping out, compressing, breaking off, and otherwise generally
self-destructing.</FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080>And jointing of this type is =
also
unnecessary. The flat edge gluing (assuming properly prepared surfaces) =
of
vertical grain boards is about as strong a joint as you're going to get. =
Using
any reasonable adhesive the flat face-to-face joint is going to be =
stronger than
the wood itself. So, any shape you use is going to be there for other =
reasons.
In this case it is for board alignment. These are pretty long boards to =
work
with and we're trying to edge-glue a fairly large panel here. The joint
shape--of whatever type--is there only to aid us in aligning the boards =
so that
we can use thinner stock at the time of lay-up leaving us with less to =
thickness
plane and/or sand away.</FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080>The biggest problem with any joint =
shape is that
when we thin out the edges (assuming this is done in some area, usually =
around
the bass end of the board) and cut into the joint shape the glueline =
takes a
twist. If the edge shape is abrupt this can be some unsightly.</FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080>Del</FONT></P></BODY></HTML>