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| Thread ID: 60145 | 2005-07-24 02:20:00 | Woodworking question - how to join large pieces of old timber? | Greg (193) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 374970 | 2005-07-24 08:37:00 | Hi Greg. You will need to know a bit about the old sleepers. What are they? Where have they been - indoors/outdoors - recently? I would run three holes right through the boards, one near each end and one in the middle, horizontally. A small jig will help run the holes true. Get some all-threaded rod, about 10 mm and bolt them boards together. Plug the ends of the rod holes without glue. You can later remove the plugs to take up any slack when the boards shrink/move - and move they will. You'll need some nice oil, tung, teak, etc., to give the whole unit several coats and recoat annually. If the sleepers are real old Australian hardwood, as most used to be, then your idea of planing it - well I wish you luck. Pick up a second-hand electric hand-planer to take the rough off, then a second-hand belt sander. Lot of work but I have made similar and its worth it. | Scouse (83) | ||
| 374971 | 2005-07-24 09:16:00 | Well I like Scouse's suggestion of bolts. Big ones. They will look great if you have a 50-75mm top. And you can tighten them as required. Countersunk of course. Try to join the sleepers with the grain running the same way so that you can plane all boards (if it become nescessary later) without reversing direction for each board. Ideally however you'd do all the planing before joining. |
Winston001 (3612) | ||
| 374972 | 2005-07-24 09:36:00 | Well I like Scouse's suggestion of bolts. Big ones. They will look great if you have a 50-75mm top. And you can tighten them as required. Countersunk of course. Try to join the sleepers with the grain running the same way so that you can plane all boards (if it become nescessary later) without reversing direction for each board. Ideally however you'd do all the planing before joining. Like my reo bar idea better :rolleyes: You normally only rough the boards out prior to laminating and smooth them up later. Bicuits will get you pretty close at the joint, but there will always be variations working with timber. Scouse's mention of using old/cheap tools to gauge the timber, reminds me that you're likely to find stones embeded in the surface of ridgy didge railway sleepers. As for movement, I keep large timbers indoors at least a year, to acclimatise, that way movement will be minimal. Not a reality in your situation Greg, so tey to get stuff that's been indoors or cut into narrower laminations. The glue will do the rest. |
Murray P (44) | ||
| 374973 | 2005-07-24 09:48:00 | Hmmm . After all the cautions and suggestions I'm half thinking of giving up the idea of recycled sleepers for a dining table; it's begun to sound a bit too ambitious for me, although I still want to make one . But I still like the idea of using sleepers for some sort of project - maybe something smaller, like a coffee table, for which I'll still benefit from all the above advice . |
Greg (193) | ||
| 374974 | 2005-07-24 09:59:00 | Have you ever thought of macracarpa slabs as a table top? They look great when they're planed smooth, sanded, etc, and at about $50/lm for a 700mm wide slab, they won't be too expensive. | somebody (208) | ||
| 374975 | 2005-07-24 10:07:00 | mmm - sounds like a good idea! | Greg (193) | ||
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