Does anyone know the what and why of this “tip” from the following Website? http://www.ripsdiy.co.za/woodjoins.shtml
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“When screwing into end wood drill a hole and insert a dowel. Then screw into the dowel through the end wood.”
First of all, what is meant by end wood? Does it mean the face of the lumber that is perpendicular to the grain, or does it simply mean some place on the longitudinal grain that is close to the end of the wood?
In either case, what would be the point of the dowling? And would the dowel be glued?
Please be assured, I am not being sarcastic. I have a small loft-step project using 45 X 90 cm hemlock, and I will have to sink a few long screws into faces perpendicular to the grain.
Incidentally, this is my first post here, and my project lies somewhere between furniture and framing, but if Knots has a spirit anything like Fine Cooking’s Cooks Talk, I can be confident of consideration. Thank you all in advance.
Replies
The tip refers to end grain. Screws don't hold as well in end grain, so the tip recommends inserting a dowel across the grain, near the end, for the screw to bite into. The screw will hold better when grabbing across the grain of the dowel.
Good luck, Tom.
Thank you Tom77; clear and understood.
View Image
Slainte.
Richard Jones Furniture
edisoneclectic is one happy poster.
Thank you all for your expertise.
Richard, thanks for the picture; it is true that a picture can be worth a thousand words! . . . or at least it was for me. Many thanks, Patrick
End grain generally means wood whose fibers are running perpendicular to the surface. Another way of saying the same thing is that the wood fibers are going to be running the same direction as the long axis of the screw.
If the tip's dowel is inserted with its fiber direction the same as the host's fibers, the dowel does nothing. Perhaps the author meant to say that the dowel's direction would be running across the grain of the host --- that is, the dowel is inserted from the side of the board, while the screw comes in from the end.
The motivation for doing this is that screws don't hold as well in end-grain as they do in face grain. Notice, however, the words "as well as". One solution to your construction problem is to use long screws. A 3" screw driven into hardwood end grain still holds pretty darn well. Try it on some scrap. Drive the screw in and use a claw hammer to attempt to pull it out.
Now there's a poorly-worded description of a pretty useful tip!
What it means is when you need to drive a screw into end grain, you can increase the holding power by drilling into the piece perpendicular to the grain an inch or so back from the end face of the wood, in line with where the screw will go. Insert a dowel into this hole. Drive the screw into the endgrain and across the grain of the dowel. Kind of like poor man's KD hardware.
Side View:
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| - screw
_ |__
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---|---- - dowel
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| | - wood
(Couldn't get it to line up exactly right, but you get the picture.)
But, you say you need to set screws perpendicular to the grain. That's usually what you want. This tip is for when you sink screws *with* the grain.
Welcome to Knots. Where we're just as friendly as all those cooks, but tend to stick to the subject a bit better.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Man -- four replies, some with photos, while I was messin' with ASCII art! You guys are on the ball!
Edited 7/11/2008 12:48 pm ET by MikeHennessy
Mike... give up I believe you!
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