I think you have a very different idea of how this is done from that of the person proposing it. There's no need to "avoid the clamps", you just place them far enough from the edge that they don't interfere with the operation.
And the purpose is to minimize the setup time. You have a hundred pieces to cut, clamp them together, set up for the cut, cut. Not "take a piece, set up, cut, repeat" a hundred times.
>
I suspect he's not familiar with box joints or the normal shift & cut methods used by off-the-shelf (or typical home-made) box joint jigs.
Indeed.
Can you post a description of it?
First off, the objective is to make box joints. To be clear on the definition, this is a box joint:
Here's a nice howto on making a jig for a handheld router:
He doesn't show it with the pieces stacked, but the principle is fairly straightforward. Same technique but clamp together all the pieces that get the same cut and do them at once.
The objective is to make drawers strong enough, fast, and cost effective. In that order of importance.
Board lumber (other than general rough construction lumber) is expensive locally so it could be self eliminating over ply. There are no "real" lumber yards left around here. Just construction lumber yards who, "can get that for you, but it will be expensive." The last guy with tons of good stuff actually was across the street from my old office. About the same time I went over to see him about some stuff for a big job he retired and liquidated everything. He didn't have anything I needed left. Just my luck. LOL.
Not sure who made the comment about gluing end grain on plywood, but um... only half of the end is end grain.
One thing I noticed is a lot of the guys (on YouTube anyway) doing pocket joinery don't seem to be using glue. When I have glued and screwed ply in the past (not pocket joinery) I used lots of glue. The combination is pretty darn strong and doesn't seem to shift, tweak or flex much. Ply is also pretty stable.
By the way I do know what a box joint is, and I got the message about stacking the first time. Jim is more of a metal worker than a wood worker like myself. You are more likely to see him hanging around R.C.M than R.W
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required