I know about using bird shot, bb's, short brads, small pieces of broken glass, even course sand to prevent the pieces from sliding around. But I just watched a video where he(sorry pc incorrect) used tablesalt sprinkled on the glue for the same purpose! Has anyone heard of or done this? Wouldn't the salt cause deterioration of the wood fibers? Wouldn't sugar be a better option? Personally I wouldn't use either one! Hmmm, how about "Grapenut cereal"? It's hard enough to break teeth!
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I never got good results using salt on scarf joins. I did ok with clamping the pieces together on a sheet of melamine covered chipboard and with using toothpick dowels but these days, for simplicity , I just use a big spring clamp to hold things sideways in allignment, then I put two staples in the top surface. Then clamp good and hard. After the glue is dry I remove the staples, add side cheeks, plane and sand level and cover with a face plate.
I found these pretty neat little things called 'dowels'...
These dowels? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tlqD6E1EXd4&list=PLwpC_9xg-cALhzX...
Here's a trick I imagined in my head and ended up working so well I use it for anything that may need help with slippage...
Take a staple gun and put a staple where the join will be. Use your fret snips to snip the embedded staple on each of the ends, removing the middle. You may have to raise the staple out a bit to do this - which is fine (you really only want the staple to go in halfway). What you have now are two sharp metal posts. Apply your glue over the area and press the other piece of wood onto the posts and clamp up. The staple will hold the joint enough to prevent slippage, it won't interfere with the join, and you'll never see the work.
I've actually modified a staple gun so that it only puts a staple in halfway, just for these types of joints.
Cheers!
I like that idea better than trying to hammer in those tiny friggen wire brands and nipping off part of it. Thanks for the tip.
I've used salt, for use on fretboards and the scarf joint. about 10 grains of salt 3" from each end of the fretboard centered. On the scarf joint I have placed salt dead center, squeeze clamps at each end then a C clamp in the center. No slipping and no glue was fouled. I think it works great. I keep a salt shaker in the shop.
Didn't mean to sound cynical, just never heard of it.
I've heard of it in several places. It usually says "a few grains" whatever that is. So, it may not be enough to cause deterioration of the glue. I find it irrelevant since there are so many other options that work. I still find the use of a single tack just to hold it steady until the clamps are in place. I put glue on both surfaces, scrape off the excess and let it get sticky before mating the pieces. Haven't had a slipped scarf joint in a long long time.
Yes, letting the glue tack up is the best way to avoid slipping on any kind of joint?
Yea, what BrianQ said...
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