End to Side Finger Joint

[smessick]

I have made a few chests in which the ends are grain oriented north and south and the front/back is oriented east and west. I was tempted to try a finger joint but couldn't come across anything here or in my literature or Googling about doing this. Anybody out there done it or seen it? Any references? Or is this another of those everybody-but-me-knows-you-can't-do that kind of things? Thanks.

 

[DaveO]

Depending on the size of the chest it could be OK. The wood on the front/back is going to expand/contract at a much greater rate than the sides, and on a large piece of stock that could cause splitting. Also the fingers on the side pieces would be quite weak, due to the grain orientation. What kind of a joint do have you used in the past? This sounds like a classic cross grain situation where a joint that allows for movement should be used, unless the piece is small and then the amount of movement would negligible.
Dave

 

[toolferone]

I am with dave on this one. The wood movement could be a real problem with a finger joint. I would look into some kind of sliding joint to allow for the cross grain movement.

 

[smessick]

The pieces I've done are in the 30Wx16Dx22H range. The design has the ends continuing down to form feet and so the chest can be placed over a register without blocking it off.

I've just used butt joints and screws.

 

[Charles M]

I think the fingers of the vertical pieces will be weak. Can you do a sliding dovetail instead?

 

[smessick]

Thank you Charles. I was not familiar with a sliding dovetail joint so I Googled it and the first site that came up was this: BenchMark Woodworking page which I had also not seen and which looks interesting and well done. The piece is in the reviews section under "Easy Sliding Dovetail Jig".

I'll get more into the possibility. Thanks again.

Stan