The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
The Practical Built In Funiture
Normally, however, you will need to make a stiffer joint by bracing the corner in some way. Fig. 2 shows one simple means of stiffening a hidden (inside) corner joint. The corner is filled with a wood block that is screwed to both boards. If the boards are thin you will need to screw through them into the block, and probably use glue as well.
Plywood Edge Treatment
Since plywood offers so many advantages in making built-ins, you need to know how to treat the rather undecorative edges. With thick plywood you can make a right-angle joint as in Fig. 3a, hiding the end inside grain of one sheet with the thin outer layer of the other one. Quite a different, but equally effective, method is to cover the grain with a hard coating of Swedish putty — a mixture of spackle and varnish that you can make yourself. A more professional job is done by banding (i.e., covering) the edges with wood strips as you see in the three examples in Fig. 3b. For this work you need clean, straight cuts, preferably made with a circular saw. Alternatively, you can often use a strip of thin stock molding, such as screen molding, glued or fastened with brads. Several moldings are available 3/16 inch to % inch thick, including glass-bead, quarter-round, parting stop, and a variety of beading. Some of these are available in fancy woods as well as pine. You can get them at any good lumber supply or hardware store.
Joining Board Edges
When you have to join two or more narrow boards to make a wide one — as in constructing a table top — you have several alternatives.
You can glue square-edged or tongue-and-grooved (t & g) boards together; you can dowel the square-edged stuff together (as in Fig. lj); or hold the boards in line with two or more battens (narrow strips of wood screwed or nailed across the joint). Boards that are glued or doweled can also be stiffened by applying cleats across their ends, the cleats being doweled or screwed into the end grain.
