Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Scarf joints
John Foster
I will have a day to kill next week in the city, so I thought I would work on the baseboards in my son's house. The problem is that I will be able to bring only a minimum of tools. I can't bring along my Makita SCM. I have no trouble doing right angle end cuts with my back saw and wood mitre box, and I can cope the inside corners. Has anyone ever hand cut the scarf joints on a long wall baseboard or the bevels on the outside corners? Any tips?
Thanks
John
Re: Scarf joints
Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
no, but I would have on hand a sharp block plane in case I strayed from a scribe line. My son-in-law's modern miter hand saw seems to do a nice job for house trim installation. It would be an investment I would consider.
Re: Scarf joints
Keith Newton
Do you have room for a circular saw and a speed-square? I’ve done lots this way, holding the square against the edge of the saw base to guide the saw.
Re: Scarf joints
Jack Guzman from Maine
John, Bring along a decent hand saw and build a dedicated scarf joint box in which you hold the base trim to a back board and hand saw through a kerf. Keep a block plane on hand too though.
Re: Scarf joints
Clint Searl
Take a caulk gun and a tube of DAP.
Re: Scarf joints
John McGaw
Well, if you are going to have your miter box and backsaw then you are all set for doing the scarf joint -- at least if you are satisfied with 45-degree cuts. I did it that way in the bad old days before I had a suitable power tool for the job. As others have said, take some paintable caulk. I find it useful to put a smear of it inside the miters before assembling -- it covers a multitude of sins.
Re: Scarf joints
TomD
I have done them just using a Japanese saw, the hardest thing for me was those little return chunks on the stool. nothing to hold onto. Any good saw will work. All I can really say is that however you mark it, line your body and saw up to make the cut on a single plane. It always is a single plane, but for some reason people can get twisted into the cuts. Just let the saw float on down. I like to check that the gap around the saw in the kerf is even. Keep it even and let the saw cut. It is always just a cut. Nothing to it.
I thought this would be about the scarphs you cut for joining wood by length for structure.
Re: Scarf joints
E Phillip Smith
This reminds me of a story my dad told me decades ago when I was in high school.
When dad was a young carpenter back in the 50's they were remodeling a house on Green Street in Gainesville, Ga. The street is lined large 2 story homes owned by the mill owners and other well to do in the day. The boss had recently hired a new lead finish carpenter, after a couple days on the job the new guy came down the stairs cussing up a storm carrying his tool bag. He had been fired that day. Just behind him came the boss also cussing up a storm saying among other things that if had to use caulk on trim you were not a finish carpenter. That's the day dad became lead finish carpenter. Never seen him use caulk to hide a crack on trim.
The trick to trim is to hide the crack. It's almost impossible to get perfect cuts on every piece and not have them open up when nailed. The trick is to slightly undercut the joints so there is a small clearance (crack) on the back side, so when the trim is nailed the face pulls up tight. When cutting by hand block plane is your friend.
