8/4 lumber is expensive so I was wondering is there anyway to maybe glue two4/4 boards together and not show that nasty glue soak after you've sawn to size????
[OP]
Member
8/4 lumber is expensive so I was wondering is there anyway to maybe glue two4/4 boards together and not show that nasty glue soak after you've sawn to size????
Member
Yes. I do it often and no glue joints show.Originally Posted by Bo McCorkle
One trick is to try and match the grain somewhat so that the grain pattern doesn't give the glue joint away. The second is an obvious one - the mated surfaces must be flat, not kinda flat. I found that good and strong clamping is important too.
Hmm, glue-soak? Whuzzat? If you are getting a visible glue line where you join you may have a poor fitting joint. Thicker material is not always more expensive in the long run. Review the math and possibly reconsider your supplier;-). That being said, I routinely laminate two smaller boards together to get a larger size for things like table legs. Your board selection and edge treatment can add to the disguise.
This is two boards joined:
gg-GnG BC-1-vert-rabbets.jpg
Outcome:
hh-GnG BC-1-vert-rabbets.jpg
This is two pieces glued face to face and then capped on the perpendicular faces with 1/8" veneers:
leg-lam-q-sawn.jpg
to simulate a QSWO face on all sides: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachme...8&d=1222533917
Last edited by glenn bradley; 12-06-2010 at 1:53 PM.
Bo
Maybe I'm missing something but where I
buy my lumber (rough) it's cheaper to buy a board ft of 8/4 than two pieces of 4/4. ex. cherry 4/4 is $5.25, while 8/4 is $6.44
Dennis
Member
Dennis, board feet are a measure of volume. Depending on the thickenss of the boards you buy, you are paying more for the same volume but you do get some advantages (like not having to glue pieces together, for instance).
Let's take a sample table leg, kinda tall for a leg but for the sake of simplicity, say 2" by 2" by 3 feet. That makes for exactly 1 bf. Using 8/4 the leg will cost you $6.44. Using 4/4 the leg will cost you $5.25.
Of course there are other factors to be considered, such as waste etc, grain matching etc.
Member
Yes you are missing something. A board ft is a board foot. It's more expensive to buy thicker pieces. $6.44 vs $5.25.
It takes two pcs of 4/4 to equal one pc. of 8/4, but the board feet will be the same.
Member
In that case getting the thick board would still costs less for the actual lumber buying 4/4 BUT you still have to mill 2 4/4 boards and glue them up and have more waste due to the extra milling and end up with a thinner board than starting with 8/4, assuming the 4/4 and 8/4 were equal quality. I have yet to run into a situation that if decent 8/4 was available that the cost of 8/4 was enough more to make me even consider using 4/4. Now if I had 4/4 available cheap or already in the shop it might make a difference but there is a lot of added work to use the 4/4. About the only time I have done this is for making legs.
In the end it can be done, species, grain, figure and color of the wood as well as the finish will influence how visible the glue line is. It can be pretty hard to find the glue line in most cases.
[OP]
Member
My experience has been that the glue kinda soaks into the wood and leaves a little yellow discoloration that stain doesn't stick to very well not so much that there is a gap between thats all glue. Know what I mean???
Member
Sounds like your joints may not be tight enough and/or you are not removing the squeeze out completely.
[OP]
Member
Excellent points. Will look into what I'm doing wrong. Thanks.
Member
Bo (Mr. Pittsburg) - Did you get any good wood buys in Oklahoma?
If you are building legs, you can miter the sides of four boards and end up with one leg looking as if it were a solid leg. I tried this only once. From then on, I spent the extra money for the thicker wood.
[OP]
Member
Sure did. Only bought a couple hundred feet but for why one project would have cost at a big box I paid for all of then. Mostly red cedar but also some oak, coffebean, maple, and flame maple.
Contributor
Darius
Thanks, I thought I was missing something
Dennis
Member
Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong here. 8/4 at $6.44 per board foot is not cheaper than 4/4 at $5.25 per bd ft. To make it simple a 12" long by 12" wide x 4/4 piece equals 1 board foot and would cost $5.25. A 12" long by 12" wide x 8/4 equals 2 board feet and would cost 2 times $6.44 or $12.88. So glueing 2 - 4/4 pieces together would cost (raw materials only ) 2 x $5.25, or $10.50 vs $12.88 for an equal volume of 8/4. If somebody else in this thread already stated the same thing, my little pea brain missed it.
Member
You are correct in regards to the pre-milling volume of wood. However, you would have to mill both 4/4 boards flat before having a finished board requiring you to mill 4 faces, with the resulting waste, compared to just 2 with the 8/4 board. With the costs given in this example after milling the 2 4/4 boards to make your 1' x 1' ~1.5" board you would likely (depends on the woods condition and how much you have to mill) end up with less actually milled wood and the price for the final wood volume would be very close. The single 8/4 board would be more like 1.75" milled. In the end considering time, planer wear, glue etc for MOST situations laminated 4/4 lumber will not only give you less yield but likely cost more. There are some woods that thicker lumber is much more rare and it makes sense, but outside those the OP is probably better off looking for another source if the 8/4 lumber prices make him view laminating 4/4 lumber as a good value.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote