View Full Version : Can you make finger joints w/o a dado blade?
navycop
06-07-2009, 04:50 PM
I watched the sawdust video on finger joints. I was going to make a jig, but I don't have a dado blade. Can I just keep making various passes with the standard shopsmith blade?:confused:
charlese
06-07-2009, 07:28 PM
One if the easiest ways to make finger joints is on a router table. Use a 1/4" bit with a 1/4" spacing and 1/4' bar. Or 3/8"X 3/8" X 3/8".
I suppose you could try to make 1/4" fingers by using a 1/8" saw blade, but that would be very difficult to set up. Everything would have to fit exactly.
I don't believe 1/8" fingers would be very easy to make either.
navycop
06-07-2009, 09:00 PM
I just found an old dado 6" adjustable blade. I had it for my stionary saw. I forgotten about it. Will that work (if I get the arbor for it)?
charlese
06-07-2009, 09:18 PM
The 6" adjustable dado is what I use making 1/4" fingers. It is used on my 5/8" dado arbor, from Shopsmith. http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/catalog/ms_molderdadoarbor.htm
JPG40504
06-07-2009, 09:48 PM
I watched the sawdust video on finger joints. I was going to make a jig, but I don't have a dado blade. Can I just keep making various passes with the standard shopsmith blade?:confused:
If you can do so accurately. It is NOT easy.
2manband
06-08-2009, 03:15 PM
I've thought about using box joints where each one is as wide as a single saw kerf. I've seen something similar on a cigar box and thought "Wow - now there's a lot of glue area"
Can't comment on the practicality of doing it, as I've never tried.
greitz
06-08-2009, 03:55 PM
One of the employees at the local Rockler store made some boxes with lots of small finger joints. He said he cuts the fingers just a little long, dry-fits the joints together, then just runs thin CA glue on the outside of the fingers. The thin CA wicks into each crack, and he just sands the fingers down flush when it's dry.
Gary
charlese
06-08-2009, 08:52 PM
A couple more "musts" involving finger joints that have not been mentioned above:
Whatever the diameter of the finger - it is necessary to have the space on your jig that lies between the indexing bar and the closest side of the hole (near side of the blade) to be the exact distance of the size of your finger.
It is not necessary to have the indexing post to be the exact diameter to the fingers. It can be narrower, but not wider. It IS necessary to snug the workpiece up to the post for each cut - using the same amount of pressure each time.
Finger joints work best going into long grain.