Thread: How would you join these pieces

I'm assuming it will be against a wall so I'd just wack some screws in from the back.

cheers

If you're comfortable hand cutting the joints and cleaning them up I'd cut a long tenon from the front peice and mortice the rear peice.

Because the angle is so acute you will have trouble using loose tenons or dowels at the thin end, but perhaps a couple of small loose tenons at the thick end and some biscuits at the thin end would be easier?

For the top corner, I think you could get away with half lapping the vertical and inclined front supports, arranged to mirror for left and right sides. Cut a full depth mortice into the inside half at each end to accept the tenons on the cross member. Then the outside half of the half lap conceals the tenon, unless of course you want to go with a through tenon, in which case you need to cut the mortices through both uprights once joined.

It is not going to be a highly stressed joint so you can play with almost any thing you want. Perhaps a contrasting wood spline as a feature or wood pins going all the way through. Glue alone will hold the joint so you have the chance to be creative.
Regards
John

Stuart
for the top joint, I suggest a pinned bridle joint. The glued bridle joint by itself will be plenty strong enough, but two or three pins in a contrasting colour (especially if you square the outside ends) will add a bit of visual interest to the joint

to maintain the visual theme, the two lower joints could be pinned Mortise and tenon

oh, I'd also drop the framing to 50 x 25 if you have the tools to do so -- fix the shelves to the ends to to stiffen the frame

Thanks for the input.

Pinned bridle sounds like a good idea.

Whether I can get it right is another question. I can see a few practise pine joints coming up.

Stuart

Stuart

can you cut a mortise and tennon joint? If yes, a bridle joint is just a M&T with one end cut off.
the easiest way to make it is probably to cut the vertical member overlength, cut a mortise, slope the inside end to the angle required (use a sliding bevel to guide your chisel -- a coarse file is also useful), cut the open end off at the approximate angle, but a few mm too long.
Assemble the joint and plane off the excess to make it neat.

to maintain the visual theme, the two lower joints could be pinned Mortise and tenon

on second thoughts, the frame would look better IMO if all the joints are bridle joints.

Rather than a pinned bridle joint, I'ld go with a floating tenon. With a bridle joint, there will be some very fragile wood at the end of the joint with little to support it. No one will see the back of the rack, so I'ld simply bore through the wall mount section, cut out the mortise at 1/4 the width of the board, in both the wall mount and the angled piece and fit a proper tenon.

The strength of the shelf comes from the angular + vertical pressure, so you don't need a tremendous amount of strength in that top joint But you would want to see to it that the bottom stretcher is well built.

Originally Posted by brizylad

The overall dimensions are still to be confirmed, but I have a very small angle at the top and am worried about how best to secure it.

Finger joint ??

You would need to rough up a 13* sled to get the angles right.

Cheers

Graeme

Tried to do a rough up of the joint using 70 x 30 pine stud I had lying around and it was not pretty.

My hand tool skills need a lot of improvement, plus the length of the angle cut meant I had to use my rip saw.

I'm starting to lean toward the "screws from behind" and plug the hole. At least that way I can make a jig for my compact table saw to cut a consistent angle.

Might have a go at the m&t, but that shallow angle is always going to be a problems.

I know....I'll just get SWMBO to change the design.

I can dream, can't I.

Stuart J.

There is another option that is much simpler. Buy a nice set of brass strap hings and just hinge the top. Don't bring the top edges to sharp points, perhaps end in a chamfer or something that leaves some wood to work with.

Good Morning Stuart

Been thinking a bit more about your conundrum. Raised more questions than answers.

* Why does SWMBO want that particular shape? Is it to fit a particular position - eg underneath an A-frame roof? Or is it inspired design?

* Accute 13* top angle suggests a very small base of only 450mm for a 2,000mm high bookshelf. This may be unstable unless firmly screwed to wall.

* Does she have triangular shaped books to put on the right hand side?

* Could you truncate triangle at top shelf? - and put a vase of flowers on top?

Love your choice of silky oak.

Cheers

Graeme

Originally Posted by brizylad

Tried to do a rough up of the joint using 70 x 30 pine stud I had lying around and it was not pretty.
My hand tool skills need a lot of improvement, plus the length of the angle cut meant I had to use my rip saw.

I think if we're honest, most of us would admit that in the begining our hand tools skills were pretty crap

I'm starting to lean toward the "screws from behind" and plug the hole. At least that way I can make a jig for my compact table saw to cut a consistent angle.

Stuart
do you own a hand plane ?
is the blade sharp ?
the "easy" way to get the angle right is to mark it with a pencil, saw wide of the line (on the waste side) then use your plane to bring the material down to your line

when cutting angled bridle joints, only the outside edge needs to be accurate & neat
once assembled, no one can see how rough the inside of the joint is!

Graeme..... there is no logical reason why the ends are triangular except she likes the look.

Ian....I hate to admit it, but it never occured to me to "sneak up on it" with a plane...I feel so stupid now.

Another thought just entered my mind. I might go for a solid "capping" piece, down one or 2 shelves. It could be cut easilly to the angle and joining the supports would be easy.

Stuart J.