Square em, butt em, glue em
: Hi Lurker Bob. Actually, I'm not sure that the Lap Scarf would in fact be
: stronger than the diagonal scarf. In the "diagonal" you really
: don't have a true " End-Grain " in that you are making contact
: with the lengths of the wood fiber. With the " Lap " you Do have
: a long surface area that is a more positive glueing surface, but, at the
: same time, you have two pieces of " End-Grain " to glue up and
: since one is on top and the other is on the bottom, you effectively have a
: total depth of end-grain butted up within s short distance.

: As for strength, I have seen a test done where two 2 x 4's were butt-jointed
: with Titebond glue and pressure was applied for 1 hour. When taken out of
: the clamps, it was placed on two saw horses about 10' to 12'apart and a
: man stood on the joint. Didn't break !! When he bounced on it, it broke,
: but, not at the glue joint. These folks who are using butt-joints are not
: using clamps to press them together, but, the epoxy and glass, I'm sure is
: just as, or stronger than the wood glues. Plenty of strength for this
: purpose.

: As to the difficulty....... I don't think that it would be any harder to make
: a jig for cutting laps than it would be to make a feather board, or any
: other jig for that matter. I do believe it would be easier to glue up the
: lap-scarf than it is to glue up the diagonal. No Slippage. It might be
: interesting to try making both and applying equal pressure to each joint
: and see which is stronger. ???

: Rehd