Wood working:Dry fitting?

[Deere Dude]

I cannot remember ever dry fitting with dowels or bisqiuts. On tight tolerances you are asking for trouble. But, I used good lumber and made sure they were the exact dimensions. I had to plane off 1/16" on many boards so they were sure to fit. Even good mills seem to be consistently off a little but.
As with anything, the more you do the less you need to double check dimentions which is good but takes time. FWIW

 

[N80]

I've got two of the four side panels glued up. Did not dry fit the second one but that was before I posted. Two more ready to go. I just now dry fitted number 3 but just enough to make sure all dowels and holes lined up. Did not hammer it home. Even then it still took a few minutes to get it apart. I'll probably continue to do it this way. These four panels are by far the hardest joinery and glue up of the project so the hardest part is nearly done and so far I don't see a major goof up. I'm sure it will come soon enough.

 

[4570Man]

I wouldn’t bother using dowels at all for a edge to edge joint. The glue is plenty strong by itself. And sand down the dowels until they fit without issues.

 

[N80]

I wouldn’t bother using dowels at all for a edge to edge joint. The glue is plenty strong by itself. And sand down the dowels until they fit without issues.

Here is what the sides of the shelves look like. These are 7 feet tall. The edges are a corner made of two 1x2 pieces glued along the edge. I think I used 5 dowels along the length of each of these.

The horizontal pieces at the top and bottom have three dowels on each joined edge. Since these are edge grain to end grain I think the dowels are helpful.

But, where they have been really helpful is getting all of this aligned for glue up.

 

[Egon]

Th

Here is what the sides of the shelves look like. These are 7 feet tall. The edges are a corner made of two 1x2 pieces glued along the edge. I think I used 5 dowels along the length of each of these.

The horizontal pieces at the top and bottom have three dowels on each joined edge. Since these are edge grain to end grain I think the dowels are helpful.

But, where they have been really helpful is getting all of this aligned for glue up.


View attachment 875646

 

[Egon]

Here is what the sides of the shelves look like. These are 7 feet tall. The edges are a corner made of two 1x2 pieces glued along the edge. I think I used 5 dowels along the length of each of these.

The horizontal pieces at the top and bottom have three dowels on each joined edge. Since these are edge grain to end grain I think the dowels are helpful.

But, where they have been really helpful is getting all of this aligned for glue up.


View attachment 875646

On the pictures shown no dowells need to be used. The Center pieces are just straight glue up placed in a slot top and bottom. The outer pieces easily lend themselves to a half lap joint which will be stronger than dowels!

Comments much to late for the present prodject!

 

[Topzide]

A benchtop router table can be used as an edge joiner when working with limited machinery. My Benchdog table is handy and doesn't eat up a lot of space as already have routers! Can make finger joints as well!

 

[CalG]

DRY FIT! and the parts should go together easily, and come apart readily. YOU HAVE TO LEAVE ROOM FOR THE GLUE!

 

[N80]

I don't have a router table or table saw. So slots, groves and even half laps really aren't an option. Not skilled enough for hand cut joinery.

I have been told that end grain to side grain joints are not ideal for glue alone. Maybe that's wrong. Live and learn.

So now I'm curious. If I did not need any dowels for this project, when do you need to use loose tenon joinery like dowels or dominoes?

 

[dadohead]

So now I'm curious. If I did not need any dowels for this project, when do you need to use loose tenon joinery like dowels or dominoes?

Your use of dowels is just fine. Also, what you were told regarding required jointery for end/side grain is spot on.

One thing that may make doweling easier for you is sizing the dowel before use. I have a 1/4" thick steel plate with 1/4", 3/8", 1/2" reamed holes I made years ago. The dowel is simply driven through the appropriate hole to size it assuring good fits.

Using air dried lumber for interior projects can be tricky. 12% is about as dry as you can get; it usually takes way longer than a year too. Are you using an accurate meter? Know that wood usually climatizes to 10% in heated homes (throughout the nation). Cross-grain jointery (in completed projects) captures the wood and trys to prevent it from moving. Kiln dried wood (6-8%) is compressed as it heads toward 10% MC. Wet wood (>12%) will try and shrink as it heads toward 10% and crack when it is prevented from doing so. Be sure of your MC if you are determined to use air dried lumber.