using a Preacher

[Tom M King]

preacher2small.jpgpreacher1small.jpgpreacher3small.jpgAs promised in another thread, here a little how-to in pictures. These preachers were made from some scrap White Oak. They were for a house that got painted siding, hence the paint on them. I always paint (prime) the ends before nailing it up. One slides easily on the Cypress siding it's made for, and the other is a tight fit that won't move easily on the board. The tight one is for when you can't reach around to do the marking, but you can slide the tight preacher into place, take the board back, and mark.

These work great for all sorts of finish work too, like fitting outside corners on baseboard. Especially working on an old house, it doesn't matter if the fit is a perfect square or not. Just make the preacher out of something the same thickness as what you're working on.

I don't know if these pictures are large enough to tell anything by. All the other forums I'm a member of have automatic downsizing. It's always a guessing game for me here.

I don't remember what that arrow is on there for, as I run both sides across a jointer to flatten. These were for a house I did over ten years ago. I just found them laying around when I took these pictures.

[David Eisenhauer]

I made something like that many years ago when replacing lots of siding on a house remodel job. And I thought I invented something, but now find out it already has a name. Kind of a cooler name than mine that was just named "The Jig". I do remember that the first one I made was too loose a fit and the second one was just right. I went one day replacing siding without one, then went home that night to the shop and created something. Way-way easier using the preacher for a one-man crew than juggling the board and pencil on their own.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

We use a similar tool for spilling planks when building lapstrake boats, both for marking and for clamping.

[Pat Barry]

Thanks Tom, this is something that would have come in very handy for me several years ago when I resided our house. Instead of this method I used the measure twice, cut once approach and had a few issues along the way. This would have really simplified things enormously.

[Phil Mueller]

When I saw the title, I thought you were going to suggest a little prayer prior to cutting dovetails. Something I already do!
Anyway, cool "jig". I learn something new everyday here. Thanks!