Joint type slection help needed

Hi All

Well as some will know i am working on a proper woodworking workbench. Only thing is its made of pine. So i have the slab all laminated and glued up and all the leg bits and pieces ready to go.

While i am busy with the final assembly i thought i would consult the brain trust for some help with joint selection.

I have in mind to put a hardwood apron around the edge of the pine laminated slab. Figure that way i can always replace it when it gets damaged beyond recovery and keep a nice edge on the bench.

So if i got two say 3/4 in pieces of hardwood coming together at the end of the bench how should i finish them taking into acount that they are being attached to pine slab of laminated 2x lumber.

Concerns here are wood expansion and contraction and then i would like it to be asthetically pleasing but simple. This is end grain meets end grain.

Also any advice on securing these pieces to the side of the slab? Do want to make them removable at some stage but want them tight up against the slab and secure.

As usual a tug of war between two different requirements.

Help! will be much appreciated. Thanks.

on my assembly bench i took and glued and screwed but had not intentions of taking my edge back off.. in your case if yu wanted to remove it later you could always cut it off if it was glued and clamped. that way no screws to break and cause trouble.

larry merlau said:

in your case if yu wanted to remove it later you could always cut it off if it was glued and clamped. .

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Brilliant! now why didnt i think of that . Oh well..

Thanks Larry. Still need to resolve the end/corner joint?

Rob, I've forgotten - did you make the top of the bench by gluing the 2x's face to face? If so, then the majority of the movement will be up and down in relation to the bench top, not front to back. Miters might still open a little, but you can glue the miter up front for the first couple of inches and then just tack the rest of it in with some brads. The back miters might open but the front ones will stay tight.

Now, if you glued it up edge to edge, nothing I said applies.

Yeah Rennie, the slabs are 2x8 cut up to 2x 3's and glued face to face.

I was thinking of a 50/50 overlap at the end with a dowel pin down the corner. Something like this.

Rob Keeble said:

Yeah Rennie, the slabs are 2x8 cut up to 2x 3's and glued face to face.

I was thinking of a 50/50 overlap at the end with a dowel pin down the corner. Something like this.

View attachment 34810

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That's cool! Maybe you could go with three fingers and extend/round over the fingers ala G&G.

Now thats a cool idea