creative end cut on 2x4 for lap joint

[Derek Gilmer]

A reciprocating saw would make it pretty easy as well. Get an aggressive wood cutting blade, lay them on saw horses and go to town.

[Rod Sheridan]

As Bill indicated, clamp a bunch of pieces together, clamp a straight edge on the group and use a circular saw.

Easy and accurate............Rod.

[Joe Angrisani]

David.... I would add that no matter how you cut the boards, be sure to tie them together along their lengths as well. If you don't, time and moisture will move 2x4s or 2x6s more than you can imagine and will open up the sides. I drilled vertical holes to accept some old giant nails to work as dowel pins. I suppose you could use biscuits and waterproof glue, too.

You might consider ditching the pressure treated stuff as well. I wouldn't want the chemicals leaching into my 'maters and lettuce, and if you think pressure treated wood is permanent when underground, you've been duped. It'll start rotting away in a few years. I'd suggest regular old contruction lumber and heavy plastic lining the inside to keep the carpenter ants from loving the home you built for them (the plastic helps with evaporation, too, as raised beds dry out much faster than a "flush" garden).

Finally, consider 4x4s instead of 2x4s/2x6s. It's nice to sit on the edge while taking care of the garden. I use 4x4s and just alternate the joints from course to course (making, in effect, a finger joint). That way it's all 90-degree full cuts.

[Mike OMelia]

Those are not 2x4s. But that design is quite popular... seeing them offered for sale in lots of places. You should be able to whip them together with hand tools. And save a few $$. Why not use treated lumber? Won't these rot quickly? Perhaps a chemical hazard? Maybe linseed oil? Not sure if that is "toxic". But surely the surfaces should be treated with something. Like Joe said, secure the lenght seams with dowels and glue.

Mike

[Joe Angrisani]

......Why not use treated lumber?.....Perhaps a chemical hazard?.....

Would you make a salad bowl out of pressure treated lumber?

On my raised beds I've always gone about 3 courses high with 4x4s. I use regular cedar 4x4s from the Borg. It's all about drainage, I think, as far as rot goes. It's like fence posts. The secret to long lasting fenceposts is not pressure treated wood. It's handling drainage properly by putting a good bit of gravel under the post so you don't make a "concrete cup" that holds the fencepost and the water.

Think the same way with the garden. You should dig down INSIDE the garden once it's built. Dig down about 12", and mix that in with lots of peat moss and lots of quality compost to fill the raised bed. Since you never walk IN the raised bed, it will have great drainage to 12" underground. As a result, right around the garden (under the frame), water will run off to the easy route inside the raised bed.

I'd suggest laying out the garden pathways with about 2" of pea gravel before you start building. Build the raised beds with 4x4s sitting on gravel. When it is all done and solid, dig down 12" inside. You'll lose a little pea gravel, but for the most part you'll be left with a layer under the 4x4s. Then line the inside walls of the raised bed with heavy plastic that goes from the bottom of the hole and comes up to 1" from the top.

I had 15 year old raised beds built this way at my old house. I made the first one without the plastic, and the ants consumed it in 4 years (and gardening was no joy for the two years before that when THEY were there in great numbers). The plastic ended the ant problem, saved water, and it doesn't rot because it's buried and hiding from Sol's UV rays.

[David Weaver]

hand saw.....

Yeah, hand saw.

If you want to make it as easy as possible and you're not much of a sawyer, just get one of the $35 japanese ryobas in the 240 or 270mm size. They'll have a crosscut and rip side, and work intuitively and be very sharp. Just mark your line and cut it.

If you have a band saw, that'd be my second choice, but the bigger the boards, the more i'd prefer moving the tool and not the board.

[Prashun Patel]

The easiest is to use two 2x4's with staggered ends to make the rabbet. Instead of 3 courses of 2x8's, you use 6 courses of 2x4's. No fancy cutting besides squared crosscuts with a circ-saw. Sorry if the pic is small

[Harry Hagan]

"But Im trying to think of a creative joint that would be simple, strong and easy to replicate on a hundred boards."

1. Line your boards up side-by-side and use one of them to keep the ends even and also support the router when you clean up the joint.
2. Cut kerfs with a circular saw just shy of the exact depth you desire.
3. Remove the "waste" material with a hammer and chisel.
4. Use a router fitted with a plate and straight bit to span the joint and trim to your desired depth.

[Neil Brooks]

An ax or camping saw would give it a rustic look.

And along those lines ... a neighbor with a pronounced overbite SHOULD be able to just GNAW their way to a nice half-lap.

[johnny means]

IMO the easiest way to do this is with a Jap saw. A good hand saw will cut t4 of those joints in a couple of minutes. Unlike using a stationary machine you won't need to move the board around. Also that type of material tends to be imperfect to say the least, cutting by hand allows for on the fly adjustment. Try one out, I think you would be surprised at how easy that stuff cuts with a good hand saw.

[david babcock]

If your bandsaw is lacking (completely or is an itty bitty thing), you could easily build some jigs to guide a jigsaw too.

This could well be the neatest website in the universe. Im amazed at the fantastic responses. I hardly had time to get my fathers old handsaw out when I noticed dozens of really neat ideas.
I will have to try each idea on a board or two. Good experience.

Yes, my bandsaw is a itty bitty thing, like my muscles (this limits 40 hours of chisel work on thousands of relief cuts) . Its cuts (my bandsaw) beautiful french curves in all my wood all by itself!

[Doug Shepard]

You could do this on a TS pretty easily too. Clamp a stop block to the fence and raise the blade all the way up. With 2x material the cut will only be slightly arced with the blade all the way up. Use a forstner bit to cut out the plug and all that's left is a quick bit of chisel work to clean out the corners and the slight arc in the stopped cuts.

[david babcock]

Ayup. That'd work quite well, too !

So would a jigsaw.

And ... in hand tools ... pretty short work for a sharp chisel, too !
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<LI id=post_1666709 class="postbit postbitim postcontainer">Yesterday 2:14 AM #10
Bill Huber

The image is of a 2x6, if you are going to use 2x4s you could do it really easy with a circular saw. Clamp a bunch together and and make all the cuts at one time.
But if you are using the 2x6 then I would go with a band saw or a good jig saw with a good blade in it.

The holes to lock them all together I guess would be nice to use a drill press with some stops or a hand drill with a jig to get them all the same.

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<LI id=post_1666728 class="postbit postbitim postcontainer">Yesterday 4:44 AM #11
Paul M Miller

Do you have a Radial Arm Saw? One cut with the blade vertical and one cut with the blade horizontal.

__________________________________________________ ___

You can cut 2x6 lumber with a JIG SAW? I have an old jig saw but it has problems cutting through 1" oak. i think 50 2x4 would cause it to give up the ghost.


Bill, so far, your idea seems easiest for a slow fella like myself. I could line up all the 2x4 vertically, place two straight 2x4s horizontally on either side of the stack, then clamp those to make sure everything is straight.

Paul, is a radial arm saw the same thing as a miter saw? Or is the radial a "sliding" circular saw?

Perhaps I will strike a deal with the boss: i make her gardens to order on the condition that she lets me buy a new tool.
WIN WIN!

[ken gibbs]

Why not ease your pain with 3" deck screws and butt joints? If you counterbore for these screws and use a good titanium bit and put two screws in each butt joint, those yard objects will out last your time on Earth. Spray the teflon screws with WD-40 and you will be amazed how easy this job becomes.

[david babcock]

David.... I would add that no matter how you cut the boards, be sure to tie them together along their lengths as well. If you don't, time and moisture will move 2x4s or 2x6s more than you can imagine and will open up the sides. I drilled vertical holes to accept some old giant nails to work as dowel pins. I suppose you could use biscuits and waterproof glue, too.

You might consider ditching the pressure treated stuff as well. I wouldn't want the chemicals leaching into my 'maters and lettuce, and if you think pressure treated wood is permanent when underground, you've been duped. It'll start rotting away in a few years. I'd suggest regular old contruction lumber and heavy plastic lining the inside to keep the carpenter ants from loving the home you built for them (the plastic helps with evaporation, too, as raised beds dry out much faster than a "flush" garden).

Finally, consider 4x4s instead of 2x4s/2x6s. It's nice to sit on the edge while taking care of the garden. I use 4x4s and just alternate the joints from course to course (making, in effect, a finger joint). That way it's all 90-degree full cuts.

DEREK / ROD,
thanks for great comments.

Joe, if i line them all up and run a carriage bolt or dowell through them, can i avoid glue? I think it would be advantageous to allow the wood to creep and move over time a little with changes of temperature and such. And i dont want to use three gallons of water proof glue.
Im going with PT lumber due to a few factors. Redwood is way too expensive. Cedar is expensive and very rough (but pretty sexy). PT lumber was not recommended in the past due to arsenic which has not been used for the past 5-10 years. The remaning chemicals have never been shown to be taken up my plant roots and extensive studies show PT lumber to be safe for gardening applications. Plastic liner works if one is still concerned.
As for the 4x4, i really do love this suggestion. The look is so much more substantial and formal- it shouts Permanent! The cost makes it tough though, so I will connect/ joint a mitered horizontal 2x4 frame over the top of the whole thing to sit on.