What's the best way to cover a 13' header?

[John Kendall]

Back at it again. Another project that is over my head (literally!)...

I have a 13' span (header) 13' x 12" x 4" I thought it was going to be covered with a hand hewned beam look that was to be sliced down so that I could nail it onto the existing header. Then the Boss had an idea that she wanted a less rustic look and thought it might be nice to cover it in walnut. :eek:

The walnut supply isn't a problem, since I have enough to cover it all. The problem is the length. This is where you experts come in ;) :D

How do I connect the shorter boards to make them longer? I have a few ideas, but I'm not really sure that they will work. I considered tongue & groove, dovetail or biscuits, but I'm sure there's one that will work better than the other.

So any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated :D

I'll have "the Boss" bake you a pie!!

[Mark Rios]

Can you buy 13" material?


Or maybe.....if you have 78"+ material, you could have some sort of trimm/batten in the middle? Or a couple of them if your material is shorter and won't make it halfway?


(I'm really trying for that pie. :D)

[Jim Becker]

Scarf joint if you have to work with shorter material...and in walnut, that's likely.

[Dan Clark]

If you have a router, you may want to consider a fine finger joint. Here's the Whteside catalog: http://www.whitesiderouterbits.com/catalog.html#catimgs

Scroll down to "Glue Joints" on the right side, then click "Fine Finter Joint".

Good luck,

Dan.

[John Kendall]

I'm not familiar with a "Scarf Joint". I'll have to see if I can find an example of that joint.

I considered attempting to meet halfway with 2 - 6 1/2 ft. boards, but then I considered that a board that would have to be 13" wide, should probably be done in 3" or 4" wide pieces and glued together to prevent cupping or warpage.

That's when I come up with the idea of stagger stepping each 4" piece, when I would glue them all up, similar to T&G flooring, so the seams never matched. That is when I ran into the question of the ends.

The router bit looks like it might work, but I'm not familiar with how that works either. Does the fine finger joint run parallel or perpendicular to the face of the board?

Go figure... I knew the Boss would do this to me (again!) :o

[Dennis Peacock]

Why not just cut the ends of the walnut boards at a 45º angle and but them together? Use that all the time when hanging trim in the house. It's kinda like a complimentary 45º angle that makes a good joint, but does a better job of hiding the joint when finished. Makes good use of shorter boards to make up one nice long board and the seam is hard to see in walnut. ;)

[Norman Hitt]

The Scarf Joint is the best way and if the grain of the walnut is anywhere close to the same, the joint will be almost undetectable. The Finger joint in this application would not look good IMHO.

[Art Mulder]

I have a 13' span (header) 13' x 12" x 4" I thought it was going to be covered with a hand hewned beam look that was to be sliced down so that I could nail it onto the existing header. Then the Boss had an idea that she wanted a less rustic look and thought it might be nice to cover it in walnut.

John, if you've already got the beam, (or know where to get it) why not consider planing it smooth? Just because it is hand hewn, doesn't mean you have to leave it that way. That'd give you the length, and you'd lose the rustic look. If the beam is pine (or some other pale wood) there is always the old standby: Stain. ;)

Just a slightly different approach.
...art

[John Renzetti]

hi, I agree with Jim on the scarf joint for this. But don't put it right in the center. Use one longer and then a shorter board. Practice on a couple of scrap pieces so you get the idea of cutting the joint and practically making it invisible with a bit of sanding and touch up. Also when covering the bottom here's something I did for sheathing the bottom of the beam. Instead of trying to fit the bottom board flush to the edges of the side board, cut it a little wider and put a bullnose edge on it. It's visually pleasing and you won't go through a lot of trouble trying to get it all flush.
take care,
John

[Per Swenson]

I didn't do this,

I just kinda like it.

maybe it will help.

Per

[Jim Becker]

What Per posted is a great way to "celebrate" the joint, rather than hide it. Excellent idea, Per!

[Robert Tarr]

Per,

I was just going to suggest a scarf joint that would have been used on a post and beam constructed house (think old houses...) The joint that Per showed is it, except the angle at each end would be a little greater and it would have a least one draw-bore pin in each end. That way you can have the "rustic look" and still look like a nice joint.

I will look to see if I can find a picture of the joint and post it....google images, here I come.

Robert

Edit, here is a keyed scarf joint.

http://www.blackrivertimberframes.com/images/GreekRevival/scarf20049.jpg

[Norman Hitt]

Per,

I was just going to suggest a scarf joint that would have been used on a post and beam constructed house (think old houses...) The joint that Per showed is it, except the angle at each end would be a little greater and it would have a least one draw-bore pin in each end. That way you can have the "rustic look" and still look like a nice joint.

I will look to see if I can find a picture of the joint and post it....google images, here I come.

Robert

Edit, here is a keyed scarf joint.

http://www.blackrivertimberframes.com/images/GreekRevival/scarf20049.jpg

Hmmm........The joint Per showed and the one in the link sure isn't what I have always called a scarf joint. Maybe there is more than one kind of Scarf joint:confused: ?????:eek: (Maybe one kind for Finish work, and a different kind for Timber Framing???????)

[Dan Clark]

I didn't do this,

I just kinda like it.

maybe it will help.

Per

Per,

This reminds me of a discussion I had several years ago with an architect. He was a great guy with lots of excellent ideas based on years of experience. We were discussing how to enhance the exterior of my house. I pointed to a downspout that was kind of ugly (bad color, dents, etc.) and said, "How can we hide that?" He said, "That's an honest structure! Just fix it and paint it." I appreciate "honest structures" now.

My interpretation of your comments is that the splice is an "Honest Structure".

Dan.

[J.R. Rutter]

I'm prepping the wood to wrap a beam at a relative's place. Similar story, but we decided to make a keystone looking block for the center of the beam out of 5/4 material, and run up to it with shorter pieces on each side. Another, "If you can't hide it, show it off." idea.

[John Kendall]

I couldn't bare to plane down a hand hewned piece, especially when it was $5.00 a sq. ft. That idea did come to mind, but it was cost prohibitive.

I do like the Scarf Joint look, but I've got to sell it to the Boss. I'll show her the picture to see what she thinks. If she buys it, I'll be able to glue up some walnut to get the width and length I need to make the 13ft. crossing. I see that they used support pieces under the joint. Do you think that is necessary? If it is, I'm going to have to figure another way to do it.

The pictures below are what I did to some steps that were almost 8ft. wide, with the walnut I have. Fortunately all the walnut pieces I had were long enough to make the steps without any seams or joints.

I was sort of hoping to do something similar by covering the beam, but somewhere in the middle I need some kind of joint to extend it out to the 13ft.

I'm going to get pictures tomorrow of the header I am trying to cover. I think that will help.


http://home.woh.rr.com/marlinman/baresteps.jpg
http://home.woh.rr.com/marlinman/steps.jpg

[John Kendall]

I'll have to mention the keystone idea too. That would work! Now to see if I can sell that idea. Women...! :eek::o

[John Kendall]

This is the header I am dealing with. Maybe this will help stir up some ideas. She wants to keep the look contemporary and Goncolo Alves will be the wood the cabinets will be faced with.

http://home.woh.rr.com/marlinman/header2.jpg
http://home.woh.rr.com/marlinman/header1.jpg

[Dan Oelke]

Instead of trying to wrap it with a "solid" board - what about making a frame and panel type of wrap. The joints in the frames can be made near corners. 3 or 4 long narrow panels should cover it. The panels could be raised or just flat 1/4" ply.

Of course that might not meet the "contemporary" thing from the boss.

[John Kendall]

Do you have an example of the panels you are describing? It sounds like that would be an easier task than what I am considering and easier is what I was really hoping for! Thanks!:D

[Charlie Plesums]

Think of a scarf joint as the first board tapers to nothing while the next board tapers from nothing to full thickness... one definition I heard was that the taper had to be at least 8 times as long as the thickness, but I have seen some comments that 12:1 was good. Build a jig for the router to get the taper, then glue together... matching grain and color as well as you can, but with the taper no joint will show and catch your eye, so the grain match doesn't have to be perfect.