djonesax

I am building a basic cross for the church. It will be about 4’ tall and about 2 inches thick. The ratio of height to width will be 3:1. I’m looking for suggestions on the joinery for. I used a kreg jig for the model but I don’t think know if that is sufficient for something this large. I was thinking of doing an overlapping interlocking joint (what ever that is called). They liked the Padauk so I am going with that.

Any suggestions?

David

GeorgeC

I think that what you have planned is exactly the best joint for your purpose.

George

firehawkmph

Djones,
I agree with George also. A good tight half lap joint would do well.
Mike Hawkins

cabinetman

I agree with the majority, it's called a half lap.
.

djonesax

Thanks. That was exactly what I was thinking. Is there a preferred way to cut this? I don’t have a dado set. I was thinking multiple passes with my table saw would do it.

David

skymaster

Yes TS will do it, use a good glue T'bond II is great if it is staying inside, if outside the T'bond III. Just use a sharp chisel to clean the cuts up

pianoman

I would have a tendancy to look through every picture of THE CROSS I could find...and then do what they did back then (and I don`t mean crusify) I don`t think they took the time to half/lapp...I mean...they had those big nails. And I thought Thomas Jefferson invented the nail?? Half/lapp is the way they`d do it today. Mark the wood where you`re going to cut it...cross cut to the half way mark...then chissel out rest...note...straight grain chissels best! Rick

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pianoman

I`d ha

b00kemdano

Sounds like it'll be beautiful. I'd love to see it when you're done! I'd never have thought to use padauk for a cross.

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Never apply Chapstick just prior to sanding. Just trust me on this.

ACP

I second the chisel method with a straight blade on a TS. Make your two outside cuts and then a series of cuts inside the lap then use a chisel to remove the waste. Several cuts in the lap should make it easier to remove the waste. Good luck!

cabinetman

Or, if your router base is wide enough, make the two outside cuts on the TS or RAS, and clean out the rest with a straight bit (mortising).

ACP

"Or, if your router base is wide enough, make the two outside cuts on the TS or RAS, and clean out the rest with a straight bit (mortising)." -Cabinetman




Absolutely, that would be much easier. I don't know why I assumed that wasn't an option. If you have a router, then what cabinetman said.

On a side note, how do you box in your quotes?

cabinetman

You mean like the above? If you want the quote to show above your post, left click on the post on the lower right where there's a brown rectangle with QUOTE.

That will put the whole quote at the top of your post. Space down from it a couple of spaces and type your reply. Now, you can back out any part of the quote you want by backspacing the text.

If you want to box quote separate parts and answer to each, just use the prefix and suffix before the quote and after each time, it will look like this:

See, it's pretty easy.

ACP

Testes....1......2.............3?!?

Hey it worked! Thank you Cabinetman! Good instructions as usual.