LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

Dowel to reinforce a forced butt joint

Tags
butt joint dowel glue
5 reading
Jump to Latest
3K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  Loren  
R
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm making a quick rectangular box with butt joints. The short sides have the grain running top to bottom and sit inside of the long sides (with grain running side-to-side), so the glue faces are all edge grain. However, I managed to get one of the short sides out of square on one side, leaving a gap between the short side and the long side. Rather than figure out how to square things up, I just applied more force to the clamps and forced the gap closed. Not best practice, of course, but see above about "quick" :).

Here's the question-over time the long side that was forced closed is going to want to pull away from the joint, and that gap is going to open up. Maybe this is inevitable, but I was wondering if I could reinforce the joint by putting a dowel in the corner that's going to want to open. I can't work out whether that would help (giving another dimension of glue support, and relying on the shear strength of the glue bond instead of the pull strength), or just cause some other kind of failure (the wood's going to move, having grain moving in different directions will just make it crack worse).

Thoughts?
 
B
#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
If I understand correctly (a picture would help), you now have two issues. First, by forcing the gap closed, you have put a twist in the long side of the box. Depending on how much of a gap there was, this may stress the joint to failure or not. A dowel here might help. Second, the grain of the short sides is running 90 deg to the grain on the long side. This puts a different kind of stress on the wood and the joints. Depending on temperature and humidity changes over time, you may have either joint failure or splitting of the sides due to expansion and/or contraction of the wood. Dowels or splines won't help this.
 
R
#3 ·
Yes, I think you understand correctly. Here's a picture for context. I put a little pencil mark where I'm thinking of putting the dowel. I made another one like this years ago (without forcing the joint closed) that hasn't failed yet, so I'm less worried about the mixed grain direction of the boards
Image


Sounds like the dowel could be helpful, so I'll put it in.
 

Attachments

LumberJocks Woodworking Forum
posts
2.5M
members
129K
Since
2006
A forum community dedicated to professional woodworkers and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about shop safety, wood, carpentry, lumber, finishing, tools, machinery, woodworking related topics, styles, scales, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Blogs Power Tools, Hardware and Accessories Woodworking Skill Share Off Topic Coffee Lounge Hand Tools