To biscuit or Not to biscuit

[clowman]

I'm making this chessboard at the link below. Any opinions on if I should biscuit the strips together, or would just glue be good enough?

thanks
clowman

http://shawnwaite.com/chessbrd/

[Lou_williams]

The reason to use biscuits is alignment not for structure. Glue shoud be good if the joints will come together without a lot of clamp pressure.

[Chris Moore]

>I'm making this chessboard at the link below. Any opinions
>on if I should biscuit the strips together, or would just
>glue be good enough?

I agree with Lou here that if (big IF here) your joints are straight and square the glue by itself should be sufficient.

Just a couple of comments and observations, though.

When choosing the the two woods, try to get two that have about the same rate of movement from humidity and heat changes. They don't have to be exactly the same, but the closer they are to each other the less likely you'll see problems from expansion and contraction. This is really a factor only if you live in a place like we do where there are vast seasonal changes in the relative humidity.

Be sure to evaluate honestly the kind of use and abuse your chessboard will get. If it's liable to get handled a lot or knocked about a bit, then you might want to consider using splines. Personally, I'd use 1/4 hardwood ply to make the splines because it will add strength to the joints as well as maintaining alignment during glue up. Splines made from solid hardwood don't add quite as much strength because the grain usually runs longitudinally with the joint being glued. The spline is about as likely to to split as the glue joint is to separate. Also, the plywood is dimensionally stable so you aren't adding another expansion/contraction element to the construction. Don't worry about the ends of the splines showing since the border will hide them.

Chris Moore
Montgomery, AL

"... and remember, there is no more important safety rule than to wear these - safety glasses."

[clowman]

Thanks for the information. I may go with splines, depending on how straight I can get the strips. I'm using Maple and Mahogany, I hope they "move" at about the same rate. How can I check that.

I live in North Carolina, it gets pretty humid in the summer.

thanks again
clowman

[sdorer]

I made a chess table a couple of months ago. After the "shift" is made in the horizontal strips isn't it true that you are gluing up end grain to end grain? Isn't it true that this by itself is sructurally unsound? If this isn't the case I would be happy if the other responders would clear this up for me. I used biscuits on my chess table after the "shift" and achieved what I hope will be an enduring result. I also ran my strips over the jointer before glue up.

[Chris Moore]

I use the Shrinkulator. I'm not making this up. Here's the site:

http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/shrinkulator.htm


Chris Moore
Montgomery, AL

"... and remember, there is no more important safety rule than to wear these - safety glasses."

[jeffpaz]

For what it's worth, I made a chess board out of maple and mahogany as well about 10 years ago. Just glued; ran across a jointer, and glued again. Still is as it was the day I made it.

[carl civi]

Hi, my thoughts,why not glue each piece to a substrate and then frame it in.I think there was a piece done in a wood magazine not to long ago but i can`t recall wich one regards carl

[clowman]

Well, I've planed, ripped, jointed, glued, ripped the horizontal strips, and glued up the squares. I was worried that the end grain gluing wouldn't hold up. Thanks for the help everyone, it looks great so far. Thanks for letting me breath a little easier JeffPaz. And thanks for the tips everyone!

clowman

[Keystone]

Chris, I know you did not "make it up", bu teverytime I see that name I can not help but think of Tim the Tool Man Taylor!