Help please with joining red oak quarter round (clear finish)

[Mike OMelia]

I am considering buying a little under a 1000 ft of red oak quarter round. I want to replace all painted quarter round in my house. Part of an remodel project. A seller (going out of business ) has the footage but in 5-8 foot lengths only. So I want to join them. Using a router bit, I think. Please suggest bits and techniques if you know how.

Thanks!

Mike

[James Conrad]

Scarf Joint, no router.

[Brett Bobo]

+1 for a scarf joint. It's nearly invisible and I typically add a touch of glue to the joint too.

[Peter Quinn]

Skip it, buy some red oak in long lengths and make the 1/4 round. You are talking just under $250 worth of wood. Not sure what the seller is asking for the shorts, but to me once you factor in a finger joint bit or something and the time to joint all those pieces, just to come up with lots of joints on a fairly visible molding, well, not in my house. I'd save money elsewhere. Course if you really aren't set up to process long material I guess that changes the equation, but its not a tough molding to make with basic equipment. I'd use a shaper because I have one, but second choice would be a router freehand. I'll accept some scarfs on long walls or here and there, but at 6'-8' max, you are gong to have a house full of scarfs, they never stay invisible.

If you really insist on joining all those shorts I'd consider setting up a jig to do long scarfs like a strip boat joint. You need something like a 15 degree taper. Then you can glue them up and clamp them or use pin nails, its a reasonably strong glue joint because its long grain at that point. Finger joints are tough to clamp and fairly ugly for stain grade work, butt joints with a very small domino or dowel could work, or FF biscuits plunged in from the bottom then cut off the protruding half later. Still tough to get a clamp on any of these methods. The long thin scarf you could clamp with a simple wedge jig, such as you make a plywood C just wider than the molding, glue up, place the joint over the plywood jig, knock in wedges to clamp. Doesn't sound like any great joy on 1000LF

[scott vroom]

Skip the kerf joinery. Spend the money on longer lengths, will look much better. Don't skimp on finish work, it will show!

[Jim Matthews]

While I agree that longer runs should look better, it may not be feasible to the buyer due to cost constraints.

If you do scarf joints, think about the sight lines in the room.
If you can match grain closely at the joints, they may be
minimized to the point that only the installer will know.

[Mike OMelia]

There are no constraints. I've decided you are correct. I will buy longer lengths.

I have a nice router and table. 3.25 HP. I can shape my own.

Mike