Full splice technique

[Ernie eyocues]

I have read the forum's rules.
I am going to tear down my bandsaw setup to make the bird mouth cut for the full splice joint. Before I do that I thought I would share my technique. This method can be setup on any bandsaw, you don't need a saw with a 3" wide blade.

My system is a sliding carriage that will rotate. This keeps the apex constant since it rotates around the center. That keeps the apex on the same line.

I had tried cutting the angle and flipping the board over and cut the angle again but it was difficult to match the apex (bottom point). The system I use will match the bottom point since it rotates around that point.

I attached photos of my system, but the photos seem to be a little out of focus. I hope you can understand.

 

[Ernie eyocues]

more photos

 

[Michael Webb]

Thank you for sharing.

 

[Coos Cues]

Thanks for sharing Ernie.

I remember asking a couple questions about your finish up at Lincoln City a few years back and getting the stink eye so I know this must be a major decision for you to let this out.

Your full splice is top notch.

 

[cueman]

That is a nice jig you made.

 

[Ssonerai]

Whoa! That is a cool concept!

OTOH, i never noticed a problem just flipping the board, myself?
Sometimes it is worth setting a pre- stop, so that i kind of precut, which lets wood with tension in it relax, then reset the stop and make the "real" cut. That's why you see the thin birdsmouth scrap pieces - from the pre-cuts.

(Some of these are pool cue blanks, some are art deco desk legs)

 

[Ernie eyocues]

hi "Ssonerai", I like your 6 pointers. I tried to make them a few years ago. They were so so. I was lucky to find a company to make the 60 degree cutter. They did a good job.

But to the subject of cutting consistent birdmouth, I was not too consistent in matching the bottom apex. Sure most aligned but a few were off. You know how annoying that is. That's why I when to the technique of rotating carriage and keeping the apex in the same location. I will a photo of some of the wedges that came out of the cut. I have several boxes full of wedges. You can see the tips are fairly square so the slot is sort of matches on the bottom. I also attached a photo of the adjustable fence to hold the piece. This adjust the position of the center line of the piece with the center of rotation.

Once again you do some good work. Thanks for showing me. I starting on other things lately. Just making boxes and trays.
best regards, Ernie

 

[Ssonerai]

Ernie -
I really appreciate a guy at your level being willing to share.
And thanks for the nice things you said!

I can only aspire to points as long as yours. The level of work control & risk definitely increases with longer angles.

Are your cutters stellite? or Carbide?

I make all my own tooling and thought of making a solid body with stellite because it will get sharper than carbide, and it is actually easier (& less unhealthy!) to grind. But then decided to just make it fast and simple in high speed steel. Which gets even sharper, and can use higher hook angles, since my plan was climb cutting from the thin end to the run-out.

The M2 blanks were cut up with an abrasive saw, and spot-drilled to fit an old Delta cutterhead that i had prepared by turning the flanks to 60 deg for clearance. Solid carbide drill.

Being a lot of metal left, the next op was to cut the "ears" off the blades with an abrasive saw.

Then it was grind right, reverse the cutterhead on the workhead spindle, as well as reverse the set up, and grind left.
The cutting edge is helical, to make a straight cut, due to all the hook/positive rake in the cutterhead body.

No doubt you can tell, the junk on the table for blocking, includes a sine vise on its side as the sine-bar for the angle.

It's cut blanks for a couple dozen parts, (legs and cue blanks combined), so probably no need for stellite at my level. Yet.

My experience with the butt-end points is similar to yours. I use a set of Stanley 98/99 side rabbet planes to flush up any thick material. In the photo, the satinwood blank is being held in a scrap ash prong just to stabilize it for planing. It could be filed, or sanded if the sandpaper was adhered to a strip so it did not dub or corrupt the geometry. The scraper for the prongs fits in grooves milled in the parallel clamp jaws, to give something to grab on. But i am very careful not to do any excess effort - it only makes things worse and corrupts the geometry with any lack of rigor.

PS: Not spending more than 5 or 6 minutes per blank on this handwork, but if there is a big booger or glitch, it can make a difference.

 

[kling&allen]

Great thread guys, thank you. I need to buy a better band saw.