RE: [bolger] Birdsmouth from the Lumberyard

I have just sucs a jig, the difficulty is that it is a
little difficult to control the the very feather end,
and one does end up kind of scruched between the
fence. That said, it has proven mostly satisfactory
over the years for scarfing a lot of small stringer
stock. A better rig would be simmilar, but just
fenced for a circular saw, which would operate from
the top, that way you are totaly protected fromt he
blade, and material size isn't an issue.

These days I mostly just cut the angle on a bandsaw,
and then use a handplane to bring both pieces into
perfect accord. this process is pretty fast, and
perfectly accurate. If I had several dozen to do, the
jig might tempt me. On the thin pieces, they
generally aren't cut perfectly in the jig, if there is
any natural curvature to the stock.

--- Paul Lefebvre <paul@...> wrote:

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<tt>
Thanks, Sakari, 
the scarfing jig in
your diagram is pretty much what I had in mind;
running 
it along the fence instead of having a stick for the
miter slot simplifies 
things - it doesn't have to be as complex as I was
thinking. I think maybe 
sort of a second fence along side A, with a shallow
wedge to jam in there, 
would do the trick to hold things and keep fingers far
from spinning blades; 
will have to try it in 3-D and see if it all fits for
the correct angle! 
 
Paul 
 
 
</tt>

 



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Thanks, Sakari,
the scarfing jig in your diagram is pretty much what I had in mind; running
it along the fence instead of having a stick for the miter slot simplifies
things - it doesn't have to be as complex as I was thinking. I think maybe
sort of a second fence along side A, with a shallow wedge to jam in there,
would do the trick to hold things and keep fingers far from spinning blades;
will have to try it in 3-D and see if it all fits for the correct angle!

Paul

Paul Lefebvre wrote

> ............. Has anyone ever scarfed planks on edge on a tablesaw?
> How'd it work?

I did try this recently. While the scarfs worked out well enough,
supporting the planks was difficult.

My tablesaw "jig" was a piece of plywood; the diagram below tries to
show what it looked like from above. I pushed side B against the rip
fence of the tablesaw (R) and the end of the plank against side A.
Then I fed the plank and the plywood forward so the plank met the
blade (Z) at the correct angle (the angle is *not* correct in the
diagram.)

The height of the blade limits the width of the scarf. But you do
get the thing done much faster than with a router.

An improvement I haven't got around to making would be a fence
glued or screwed along side A. You could clamp the plank to the
fence--much better than squeezing with your fingers...

Sakari Aaltonen

Z R
Z R
Z .....................................B R
Z . B R
Z . B R
Z . B R
Z . B R
. B R
. B R
. plywood B R
. B R
A B R
A B R
A B R
A B R
A B R
A B R
A B
A B
A B
A B
A B
A B
A B
A B
A B
A.....................B

I've been following this thread with great interest, as I'll soon be getting
into the masts for my Micro - am doing the revised, taller rig, which calls
for a 26' mast. I plan to do it birdsmouth to keep the weight down. Saw some
very nice 20-foot vertical-grain Doug Fir decking material at the local
lumberyard, but have not yet calculated cost vs Spruce, nor checked the
tables on density, etc. to see if I even save much weight with a birdsmouth
Doug Fir mast vs. laminated Spruce lumber. Still, I haven't seen any spruce
around here clean enough to bother with - real ugly, would need LOTS of
scarfs - used to build up real nice kayak paddles cheaply from firring
strips 10 years ago, now it's all garbage, as are the 2x4's. I calculated
the birdsmouth ratios and for my mainmast I need 3/4" x 1.5". Since 1.5" is
well within range for my 10" tablesaw so I figured on doing the scarfs on
edge on the tablesaw - make a scarfing jig from a chunk of plywood, hardwood
runner for the slot, a fence of scrap wood at the 12:1 angle with a plywood
stopper block at the end, tall enough to be cut thru on the lower edge and
still serve for subsequent cuts; put the wood on edge with some kind of
thin wedge clamp to hold against the fence, and zip... that's how it works
in my mind anyway. I made a taper jig but it'd be hard to cut to the very
end of the plank with it, so I think a special jig would be worth the small
investment to make. Has anyone ever scarfed planks on edge on a tablesaw?
How'd it work?

Paul Lefebvre

Whoa!

Don't get hung up on scary scarfing. I avoided scarfs like the plague,
(Dammit Jim, I'm an accountant, not a carpenter!) until I was forced to do a
few. My first attempts were in 1/2" plywood, but only about 3 inches wide,
and I was surprised how easy it was to cut them with handsaw and plane. My
next experience was with (very hard to replace) 2"x6" spruce for my mast. I
diddled around making a jig to cut the scarf with router, but decided if I
could get that right, I could probably do the scarf itself. Anyway, I
marked the scarf on both edges of the boards, then used a power plane to
take off most of the wood, finishing to the lines with a hand plane. Again
I was surprised just how easy it was to get a close fit. Since then I've
scarfed other spars and long pieces of trim without (hardly) a second
thought.

Jamie Orr

-----Original Message-----
From: David Ryan [mailto:david@...]
Sent: April 4, 2002 11:34 AM
To:bolger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bolger] Birdsmouth from the Lumberyard

For your effort ripping (easy), scarfing (scary), routing (unknown),
you'd sure have a pretty thing...
YIBB,

FBBB --

Never mind what the ratio *should* be, here's what it is if you rip a
mess of of Home Depot 2x8s and turn them into 6 inch spar:

http://www.crumblingempire.com/insolent/birdsmouth.gif

In a perfect you'd get three staves per 2x8, or about $48 worth of
lumber. Double that for flaws and your back to where you started with
your laminated stack of 2x8s. Of course you'd likely throw out some
wood making your brute, but why nickle and dime.

For your effort ripping (easy), scarfing (scary), routing (unknown),
you'd sure have a pretty thing you could be proud of, and you
wouldn't pay any more for the privilege of making it. Wouldn't be
nearly as nervous making as working with $6/BF lumber either.

YIBB,

David
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