Help ::::1:6 scarfs in 1 1/8 " yellow long leaf pine

[Etienne Swanepoel]

Hi ,
I am starting the planking of a strip planking hull on a 36' yacht. I have to scarf joint (some 350 joints) of the 1 1/8 " by 1 1/8" battens to 40 ft lenghts from the stock 8 to 12 ft lenghts I have. I DO want to scarf and not butt joint.
Any nifty ideas for a tablesaw jig to this please??????
Thank you in advance
Regards
Etienne Swanepoel

[Jim Becker]

Welcome to the 'Creek, Etienne!

I am thinking that what you propose might be best done with a miter saw and a jig to hold the material at the oblique angle you'll need. I suppose a sled could be built to use a table saw, but the length of the stock might make that hard to support since the material has to move during the cut. Not so with the miter saw.

[Rick Lizek]

Standard way to do this size material is a router and fixture. 10/1 is the typical ratio and can vary. 12/1 is considered stronger than 8/1.
http://www.glen-l.com/supplies/pxman-apscarf.html
http://home.att.net/~ShipModelFAQ/ResearchNotes/smf-RN-ScarfJoints.html

[Andrew Williams]

What about a large bowsaw?

[Jack Ganssle]

Etienne,

Regarding your question re butt joints vs scarfs, I've never seen butt joints on a strip-planked hull. Scarfing with a good epoxy glue is the usual approach.

Good long-leafed yellow pine is a vastly underrated material for planking. The stuff gets harder over the years. I had a 40yr old boat made from it once, and was very pleased with the material.

Jack

[Richard Wolf]

Jim Becker has the right idea. You should build a fence that is 90 degrees to the saw fence. Then set you meter angle to about 5 degrees and cut away.

Richard

[Etienne Swanepoel]

Thank you for all the replies and advice... much appreciated
Etienne Swanepoel

[Tom Henderson2]

Hi Etienne-

Let me suggest a somewhat different approach.

As Jim Becker points out, it won't be easy to move 10-foot sections of wood at small angles on the tablesaw. But I disagree with Jim about cutting them on the chop saw.

Better in my view to make a small jig and use a circular saw.

If I understand your geometry correctly, the scarfs will be at about a 9.5-degree angle through 1 1/8 x 1 1/8 boards. So the cut will be a bit under 7 inches long.

Start with a straight piece of wood 4 feet or so long. This will be what you clamp to the boards. Put another straight piece of wood onto the side grain of that first piece, but inclined at the 9.5-degree scarf angle. This will be what guides the saw.

If you make it 4 feet or so long, you can probably clamp up 4 boards and thus cut two joints in one pass.

Perhaps the attached sketch will make more sense than the verbal description...

I hope this stimulates some ideas.

-Tom H.
Ventura, CA

[Ben Grunow]

Was going to describe what Tom has so (incredibly) depicted in his free time. I would use my festool CS for that job as the angle does not really matter when the two boards are cut together as it will be the same on both pieces no matter what.

What a resource this site is!!!

Amazing.

[Michael Schwartz]

I would use my EZsmart guiderails with my circular saw :cool: