Good Evening All,

How many of you guys use finger joints to lengthen a board or several pieces of wood?

I know it is done but I've never utilized it.

I bought the MLCS  router cutter to do it and haven't done it yet.

 

I had one once, but never used it. To tell you the truth I couldn't figure out how to, and  the thought of making the cut in one pass terrified me.

The picture looked so simple ,but when I saw the bit,I had second thoughts.

If you figure it out ,post a thread on how it works.

Herb

this FJ... all the time.... for stretching and/or aesthetics..

 

Haven't done that.  If I did I would want to paint the piece and don't do that either.  Probably would come in handy for some home repair work.

and this is a box joint...

16 minutes ago, Dadio said:

I had one once, but never used it. To tell you the truth I couldn't figure out how to, and  the thought of making the cut in one pass terrified me.

The picture looked so simple ,but when I saw the bit,I had second thoughts.

If you figure it out ,post a thread on how it works.

Herb

 

 

Thanks Stick for the display of the finger joint. I have used mine very much and the joint is so tight that you can hardly see it. It helps to get rid of scrap and you may use the pieces for many reasons.

29 minutes ago, Ralph Allen Jones said:

rid of scrap and you may use the pieces for many reasons.

great for out of sight cabinet construction...

 

This bit is my 1st choice....

Edited October 29, 20169 yr by Stick486

Mainly in the boxes I make...

Although the Japanese do use finger joints when they connet beams together.   Then hold them together with a key.  

Mine are done with a saw, and a chisel.  

 

30 minutes ago, Stick486 said:

great for out of sight cabinet construction...

 

This bit is my 1st choice....

Stick, do you cut it all in one cut,or do you creep up on it? Is the board laid flat and on a sled, or miter gauge, or on edge with a miter gauge? Or do you freehand it? Which I would never even attempt!  The reason I ask is I have seen tabletops with the finger joints showing up and I have seen pine garage door stop trim with the finger joint on the edge.

Herb

OOPs, didn't see that the picture was a video, disregard my last post.

 

OK, watched the video. Sure looks easy. I understand it now, thanks for posting the video.

Herb

Edited October 30, 20169 yr by Dadio

Never used a finger joint, but I've seen door frame material that would have 7-8 of them. I guess i view them sort of like a miter saw, it's more of a construction thing than a woodworking thing. Just me.....but the phrase (finger joint) does seem to have 2 definitions with a lot of folks. The box joint is commonly called a finger joint, and it does lead to confusion at times.

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis, Jr said:

The box joint is commonly called a finger joint,

not here...

look ad your fingers.. they're tapered...

box joints are, well, boxy...

1 hour ago, Stick486 said:

not here...

look ad your fingers.. they're tapered...

box joints are, well, boxy...

Beg to differ, you;re correct of course about the proper convention. But visit any other woodworking forum regularly and you'll see them mixed up sometimes several times a week. To me it doesn't matter ( not nearly as much as everybody calling varnish "poly") as long as you can figure out which joint the poster is really mentioning.

26 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis, Jr said:

But visit any other woodworking forum regularly and you'll see them mixed up sometimes several times a week

so teach them...

Not that important to me. To clarify something: while I see the box joint called a finger joint quite often, I haven't seen anyone call a finger joint a box joint.

I notice my thumb is more or less straight, maybe we ought to call a box joint a thumb joint? When I see some article talking about finger joints, I think of the tapered ones, and then I find out they are talking about box joints, and I think that they don't realise what a finger joint is.

 

The first box joints I ever saw were on dynamite boxes, cheese boxes, salt cod boxes, surveyor instrument cases,and precision tool cases.

Herb

Edited October 30, 20169 yr by Dadio

Wonder if this is a box joint?