How to Get Two Pieces Jointed

In the event that your design calls for two pieces to be jointed together to develop the proper thickness, the following suggestions may be of help. Lay out one profile on the stock, being sure that the design does not overlap the edge. Have on hand a duplicate piece of stock the same size as the first one. Using the jack plane, joint both faces to be joined so that the grain in both pieces runs the same way. Do not glue together at this point; wait. Profile out one piece, either with the power tools or with the scroll saw, being sure you stay outside the lines.

Place the profiled piece on top of the other one, jointed faces together, and trace around the first piece, then cut carefully about the lines on the second piece. It will be a trifle larger than the first one. Then glue and clamp both pieces of profiled stock together. When the glue has set-usually overnight-pare off the sides of the larger piece to fit the top piece. Then you are ready to pare off both pieces to the exact profile you want to develop.

The procedures outlined above hold true for any step in the carving where two or more thicknesses of stock are required to develop a given part. Built-up sections of the carving that are all within its periphery are jointed together in somewhat different manner. The steps that I follow in this instance are these: Joint the face of that portion of the carving that will form the base. Joint the piece that is to be applied to the base stock, after it has been roughly outlined and sawed or planed to the desired thickness.

Drill and countersink the necessary holes so that the two pieces of stock can be held in place while they are bosted out; then bost out. Index the overlay (the second piece of stock) at two points, remove the wood screws, apply glue, replace the screws and draw the two pieces together as tightly as possible with the screws. Use additional clamps if necessary to be sure that equal pressure is applied throughout the joint. This is best determined by the fact that, if in applying glue to both faces in equal amounts and having it spread about in equal quantity, about the same amount of glue will be squeezed out at the edges of the pieces.

A tip about placing holes-be sure that the screw holes do not come close to the edges where you may hit them with the carving tools. If you want to make doubly sure that you will never hit a metal screw with the carving tools: counter-bore the holes so that, regardless of the thickness of the stock, the shank of the screw (the unthreaded portion of the wood screw below the head) is left in the overlay.

Be sure that, when you drill the holes in the overlay, the holes in the base coincide with them. You can fill the counter-bored holes with as many plugs as necessary to bring the top of the top plug up to the face of the overlay or use long plugs; either way is satisfactory.

This fact must be kept in mind always. You cannot joint two pieces of stock together using the mill-planed faces. You must hand-plane each piece to a perfect fit before you can be sure that the joints will take glue and hold together properly.

Jointing is the art of planing parts to make each piece perfectly smooth and flat so that, when two pieces are put together, they fit with no high or low spots. For face jointing-that is, planing the flat sides of two pieces to be jointed-set the blade of the plane fine. On the faces of the pieces that are to be joined by glue, take off very thin curls; start planing across the grain, then lengthwise with the run of the grain. Keep at it on both pieces until you get as perfect a fit as you can. Don't forget that a lot of fine cuts are better than a few coarse cuts and far easier to do.

Bosting is the technical term for making the rough cuts, or rough carving. Its purpose is to eliminate all the surplus wood from the face of the piece.