Making a Cross Lap Joint | Summary, Comparison, & Walk Through

[@Birdlab]

Thanks for the video. I’ve been practicing using the cross lap lately and learned a few tips from you.

[@NorthwestCraftsman]

Great! Glad you found it useful!

[@stevepethel6843]

Very organized and clean. Thanks for your video

[@NorthwestCraftsman]

Of course! Glad you found it helpful!

[@MinHongJiwoodstudio]

hi...I made a watching your video. Thank you for being an inspiration to me...

[@mariajacome2153]

Beautiful video, just wondering if you have any tips for those of us who don’t have a table saw. Maybe just have a jigsaw, plunge and hand router. No router table.

[@NorthwestCraftsman]

Thanks! And great question! Actually, all of those will work, it just changes how you go about it. The most basic, hand tool focused, way would be to cut down the outside of the waste area with a pull saw, tenon saw, or the like and then chisel out the remainder. It’s not nearly as time consuming as it sounds. With a router, you want to be careful of the aspect ratio of the part (don’t try to hog out material from the skinny side of a tall skinny work piece) and you’ll need a jig regardless (may be more time than it’s worth). Jigsaw could speed up the first option with hand tools by cutting a series of slices in the waste area, making it easier to remove. Honestly, the sky is the limit when it comes to ways of doing work like this, just a trade off between what you have on hand, how many you’re doing, and how much time you have 😊 if you have a specific tool you’d like to use, let me know and I’d be more than happy to help brainstorm ways you might be able to use it.

[@michaeltrice2265]

Hey bro really good video. What did/ do you do for a living and to get all those nice tools if u don't mind me asking?

[@NorthwestCraftsman]

Hey Michael! Glad you enjoyed the video! By day I'm a mechanical engineer but all of the supplies for my shop are funded by KZbin ad revenue and my woodworking. I started with only hand tools in 2018 and have slowly built out the shop since then. Once I had enough tools to start making boards, coasters, and the like I started selling those to get more tools. Now I'm working on larger pieces like tables which sell for more and allow me more freedom for tool purchases.

[@ClemsonTiger2013]

Thanks for this video. Question. I have to make about 60 of these cross lap joints at 60 degrees. Would you recommend doing it on the tablesaw or making a jig and using a router? Which way would be the easiest and least amount of time. Thanks.

[@NorthwestCraftsman]

Glad you liked it! And wow that’s a lot. How long are the pieces you need to cross lap? If they’re longer than can be reasonably managed on the table saw with a dado stack, I would use the router. If they’re short enough to handle on the table, saw, I would use it. I may also see if you can clamp all your pieces together to cut the cross laps for one spot in one or two passes. This should be possible with either method.

[@athmostafa2462]

Thanks 👍

[@design8studio]

There is no mention made of either width or depth as relates to tolerances. Is the goal to hog out exactly the width of the other piece of wood? Or slightly more? Is the goal to hog out exactly half the height of the other piece of wood? Or slightly more? If not exact, what tolerance/allowance is OK?

[@NorthwestCraftsman]

Great questions! As with most joints, in a perfect world, you’d make it line to line or exact to the dimensions of the mating piece. In this joint, that would mean full width and usually half thickness, though you can vary the depth for your needs. One side should mirror the other. Given reality though, this is rarely possible without a loose and sloppy fit. The final tolerances will depend on your application. If you’re making a pergola that will be assembled outside and a small gap isn’t noticed from the ground, then slightly looser tolerances are fine. If you’re making fine furniture, you will want this as close to line to line as possible. An interference fit will rarely be used as it causes a lot of stress in the joint, though, your lines end up clean. I hate to answer with, “it depends” but that’s why I didn’t touch on tolerances in the video. What application are you looking at?

[@design8studio]

​@@NorthwestCraftsman Excellent answer! In my case, I'm using CNC to cut spars and ribs for a torsion box, and the CNC is calibrated for dimensional accuracy, and I just did a test cut based on *exact* thickness of plywood as the width and *exact* half of the height, and by using a hammer to drive the two resulting pieces together, this test was a huge success with perfect result!

[@design8studio]

@@NorthwestCraftsman Here's a quick video of my CNC cut cross lap test just done: kzbin.info/www/bejne/raXOgoVuYsusmbM

[@NorthwestCraftsman]

I’ll check it out! Yea, if you have a well tuned CNC, line to like is pretty great 😂

[@awinbisa]

Hi is there any danger of expansion of the wood? I am concerned that the wood will expand in width but there is nowhere for the wood to move so it will lead to cracking. What’s your view.?

[@NorthwestCraftsman]

There is a chance that it will expand but it depends on where the joint is in service. Indoors, I don't see there being a big issue. If you're outside, you may want a slightly looser joint to allow for expansion.

[@awinbisa]

Thanks. Yes I am planning on making an outdoor table and crossing the legs with this joint.

[@NorthwestCraftsman]

Oh nice! If you have time to test it, you may mock-up a joint and leave it outside to see how it does. Otherwise, you could leave it a hair loose and pin it to help keep rigidity. On a table, your biggest issue will be wobbly legs if you leave it loose.

[@anyfoolknowthat]

hey, depth gauge link is dead

[@NorthwestCraftsman]

Thanks for the heads up! I checked it out and it’s because they don’t sell that gauge anymore 😅 I did some searching and here is the closest I could find. amzn.to/4elHig4