Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I am looking for a plan to make a homemade scarfing jig made of wood.
Once it is made you would use a circular saw to make the scarfs. Does any one have a plan like this? I found one on the internet, but I don't think there is enough information .

Billy,
Take a look on this page?

the best way to scarf plywood is with a belt sander and a hand plane.

Thanks Etech and Ageless!
That is the same site that I found. I quess I will have to study it more.

Hi afreegreek
I saw a guy demonstrate this on you tube. I think it would be easier for me to use a jig and circular saw. Thanks.

BillyLandry wrote:Hi afreegreek
I saw a guy demonstrate this on you tube. I think it would be easier for me to use a jig and circular saw. Thanks.

to make a scarf strong you need at least a 6 to 1 ratio.. a 7-1/4" blade will only cut 2-1/8" so it's useless for anything thicker than 3/8". not to mention the fact that a saw blade will not leave a very smooth surface. not a problem if you're covering it up but if it's going to show, you'll need to touch it up with a plane anyway..

Hate to let a little math get in the way, but if you try to replicate that angle of a cut in ~3/4" plywood, which you'll probably need to get the glue surface for a scarf joint, you'll need a Skil saw with about a 13" blade diameter.

aggie79 wrote:Hate to let a little math get in the way, but if you try to replicate that angle of a cut in ~3/4" plywood, which you'll probably need to get the glue surface for a scarf joint, you'll need a Skil saw with about a 13" blade diameter.

that's right.. the jig shown on the link posted is for cutting a scarf on 6 mil ply (a little less than 1/4")

afreegreek
That is good to know the circular saw way would be useless on anything more than 3/8's because the size that I would want to scarf would be 1/4 to 1/4 and 3/8 to 3/8. Were you talking about a power planer? I don't have one of those anyway.

BillyLandry wrote:afreegreek
That is good to know the circular saw way would be useless on anything more than 3/8's because the size that I would want to scarf would be 1/4 to 1/4 and 3/8 to 3/8. Were you talking about a power planer? I don't have one of those anyway.

no I do them with a 36 grit sanding belt and then finish it up with a block plane. but ya, if you're going to do it on thin material the jig will be fine.. and you don't need an 8 to 1 like the jig shown, 6 to one is perfectly good so you can go to 3/8" material with a 7-1/4" blade.

Thanks afreegreek for the info.

Billy Landry

I would think that for thicker material that you could build a jig to use a router with a 1" cutter; make several passes. then dress it up with a sander