Lap Joints

[durango dude]

I've cut lap joints before, but usually at the end (framing, etc)

Any guidance on cutting a lap joint mid-way through a piece of wood?

I don't have a router table, so that option's out.

The joint needs to be 4" wide - so at minimum, it's a lot of passes with a dado.

[cabinetman]

I've cut lap joints before, but usually at the end (framing, etc)

Any guidance on cutting a lap joint mid-way through a piece of wood?

I don't have a router table, so that option's out.

The joint needs to be 4" wide - so at minimum, it's a lot of passes with a dado.

If you get the depth right, just clamp both pieces together, and make the passes with a handheld router.

.

[pelligrini]

I don't know how big of a cutter you'd be using on your router, but a 3/4" cutter would be that same amount of passes with the router. Probably more, as I wouldn't want to cut full depth with a large bit, especially in hardwood.

[LCHIEN]

depending on how pretty you want it, you can make multiple passes with a regular blade, every 1/4" to 3/8", then use a wide chisel to break them out. Just position the end cuts accurately. Don't need a dado or router.

for half laps in a 2x4, that's only 9 passes with the blade set .75" (or whatever halfway thru is) deep. You can clamp2 2x4 next to each other and cut both at once as someone suggested. If there's any height left in the lap area that you didn't knock down enough with the chisel you can take a plane or a rasp and run it through... the bottom of the cuts shows the depth you need to hit.

Its fast and works OK for rougher looking projects.

[durango dude]

followed lchien's guidance.

I'm using lap joints to join the vertical support on a cradle frame with the horizontal legs.

My legs are 3/4" thick, by 8" long. Joining to the vertical support - which I cut down to 3" wide.

Made multiple passes with a kerf blade ---- wasn't that hard --- then used a plain ole chisel to finish the joint out.

I cut 3/8" deep cuts in the vertical support and the leg --- which worked very well. (the 3/4" leg comes in flush against the support).

will provide photos later --- but it works great!

[LCHIEN]

glad it worked for you!

[cabinetman]

Here's a suggestion. You could cut a piece of wood slightly narrower than the width, and glue sandpaper to one face (100x-150x). Use a utility knife to cut the paper to the edge of the wood. Pass that through to flatten out the bottoms. Be careful not to have the edge of the sandpaper getting to the corners, as you want them very clean and square.

.

[Richard in Smithville]

Looks like I'm a little late on this, but in future, why not make a router dado jig? I have seen many ideas for dado jigs. This is just the first one that came up when I googled.

http://americanwoodworker.com/blogs/tools/archive/2009/10/16/3-great-router-rigs.aspx