Why Bird Mouth Joinery?
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- čas přidán 29. 08. 2016
- Bird mouth joinery (BMJ) is easy to use and rapidly delivers a variety of superior wooden DIY projects. The construction of a walnut and pecan wood table lamp base is described in detail, and how to extend the method to other gift-quality projects (decorative boxes, a toy chest, coffee table) is explained.
For general information on bird mouth joinery and projects: www.davidhenrywoodarts.com/
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Yes, I am totally convinced. Thank you
Thanks, AlergicToSnow! I greatly appreciate your comment!
David, Thanks! for the BMJ inspiration, I'm hooked and just received my 3 bit set. Now I'm off to watch more of your videos and try to perfect my own technique. Jim McGrath
Hi Jim! How cool of you to send such a thoughtful comment! Good luck! I look forward to hearing how things turn out!
Well. The joinery is new to me and I am eager to try it. But the real star of the show is the beauty of your creations. Your choices in the wood details and the aesthetics are outstanding. Thank you
I’m so happy I found your channel. Great content and precise easy to understand instructions. Thanks 😊🇨🇦🇨🇦
Thanks for your kind comments, Brian! I hope to start on some new material soon!
Until I watched this video, I never heard of this. Thank you for creating the video.
Thanks, Ron! I'm glad that you enjoyed it!
I wish I had a mentor like you around wow sky the limit!!! Amazing work
Thanks, Gerardo!
David I have enjoyed your videos. I made jewelry boxes for my 4 granddaughters using BMJ and of course they were well received. Thank you for taking time to make the videos they really encouraged me to try BMJ and of course came out very nice. Mike
Thanks, Mike! Delighted to know that BMJ worked so well for you. And it is always great to hear that one's videos are being put to such good use!
Thanks for the videos on BMJ Dave,
I'm building 8 sided bongo Cajons and have struggled getting everything to line up just using a saw. What you have shown me is amazing and I will be purchasing a 8 sided router bit shortly!
Thanks for the inspiration, Cheers from Mike in Australia.
Comments much appreciated, Mike! I had never heard of a bongo Cajon before your comment; looked it up and think you have hit on a great use for BMJ. They have great sound, and I think you will find it easy to make a lot of unique shapes with BMJ. Hope to hear more from the percussion scene in Ausralia!
This looks awesome as well as being a very functional time saving technique. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Now to find some router bits.
Hi Matthew! Thanks for the nice comment! Try searching "bird mouth router bits" on Amazon; they seem to have just about all the BMJ bits.
You've peaked my interest! I'm going to give this a try. And I loved the toy box design.
Good luck with the BMJ, muddquez! If I can help, please contact me via my website.
@@davidhenry32 is there a video that shows what bit and how to set up on router table?
Thank you for all your tips john from uk.
You're most welcome, John! Thanks for watching! Have you tried incorporating BMJ into any of those cool models that you make?
very good
Very nice work! This is a technique that I will try thanks to your very useful video tutorials. I never cease to be amazed at all of the things that can be done with wood. Many thanks for your step-by-step approach you make everything easy to understand.
Comments much appreciated, Fernando! I don't think you will be disappointed at how much fun you can have with BMJ.
Very nice, man, you build the very exact tipe of joinery I'd like to build, beautiful, functional and detailed. But I live in Brazil, the tools are so expensive here, I only can do little projects and they take a lot of time!
Dan, Thank you for introducing me to BMJ, I have ordered three bits and can't wait to start using them, I think my first project will be the napkin holders, I will be using Oak,maple and mahogany. wish me luck.
Thanks for the comment, Joe! I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with your new BMJ bits! I'd be happy to hear how things turn out, via my website (above.)
I just unpacked a 3-piece set of birdmouth bits from MLCS. Have never used them before, but that will soon change. I think your work looks great.
Thanks, Ken! I'm sure that you will enjoy BMJ; if you have any questions, feel free to contact me via my website.
Hi i can not say enough about your videos i have been doing woodworking for about 30 years but now lost an eye in 2012 and have poor vision in the other i can not give up you give so much hope .
Julien
Thanks for your kind comments, Kathreyn! I'm sorry to hear of your eyesight problem, and hope that BMJ can help you to continue woodworking. If I can help, please contact me.
one word fantastic
Thanks, Kenneth!
thanks you very very much..... shyam from Mauritius....
I'm glad that you enjoyed the video, shyam!
Your boxes look nice, man.
Thanks, unpicked1! Not hard to make, either!
I`ve never used that but it looks like full of fun
Give it a try, Louis! I don't think BMJ will disappoint you!
Thank you for sharing another great video. Before I started using this type of joinery, I was cutting the angles on my table saw. It seemed no matter how close I tried to cut the angles, they were always a little off causing gaps during final assembly. My remedy was to glue only half of the staves together at a time and then match each half perfectly by putting them on a belt sander. I picked up two of these bits a couple years ago and have never looked back. They greatly reduced the amount of time involved when batching out hundreds of projects. Also, these bits made it easier to make odd shaped designs similar to your boxes and napkin holders. I would like to eventually pick up 12 and 16 sided bits. Again, thanks for sharing.
Very kind comments, John! Thanks!
You've nicely pinpointed the biggest problem of using BMJ construction via table saw; the angles must be precise and any errors are accumulated because of the multiple sides. "Batching out hundreds of projects" sounds like you have been using BMJ for sales purposes. One of the limitations of the usual commercially BMJ bits is that they can handle stock thicknesses only up to 3/4". Possibly of interest to you, there is now a bigger 8-side bit available (via Amazon) capable of handling up to 2" stock.
I love this idea I used like angles to make my 6-8 sided projects but the bird joints look far more technical and a lot stronger I live in Scotland and will look for the router bit to try this thanks and like your videos
Thanks for your kind comments! I think you will find using BMJ for 6- and 8-sided projects a lot easier than mitred joints. Good luck!
Thank goodness, you are back on CZcams. Great videos. The difference between your lamp and mine is that yours turns on.
Comment and welcome much appreciated, Jeff! Why doesn't your lamp turn on?
That was a joke, I have not yet made a lamp. I have bought a birds mouth bit but have not used that yet either. I have only just now got a router table and am waiting on the cooler weather to use it. I am in middle Georgia and it is terribly hot here as well as high humidity. It can be really miserable outside where I have to work. thanx
Sorry, Jeff, I'm a little slow before my second cup of coffee! I know what you mean about hot summers in the South. We lived in NC for more than 10 years. Good luck with that BMJ bit when you get a chance to use it!
I made my first project using “BMJ” I made a lamp using the 8 sided bmj it went together ok but one of the joints does not fit together tight . I haven’t figured out what went wrong. Hope you can shed some light on what might have happened. BTW I enjoy you videos I watch them over and over and seam to learn something new each time.
David, love your videos. Where do you get the holly? I really like the contrast there. I bought a 3 piece set of bmj to try some of the projects you show.
Welcome back David!! It's been a while. It looks like you are on a yearly schedule.
Great video and beautiful projects as usual. Since I've been inspired again, I'm gonna have to dig out those bits. This time I think lamps are in order.
I don't know why I didn't think of it before seeing this video but doing the BMJ along the end of long stock and then cutting it to length seems much easier that what I did for all of my previous projects.
I too am curious if you reinforced the end grain to long grain joints.
Another well done video as we have come to expect. Don't stay gone so long.
JimE
Thanks, Blackemmons! I really appreciate comments from such a regular viewer! The annual schedule is not by intent. Making videos always competes with making projects!
Good luck with the lamps; they really do go together easily with BMJ.
David, I think you should write a book on BMJ and include some of your projects. Put me on the pre-order list if you would please. JimE
Thanks, Jim! You're very generous!
please shoe how you build the beautiful coffee table
From your demonstration I can see that BMJ works very well on lumber thicknesses of 3/4" and 1/2" but do you have experience in using BMJ with 3/8" or 5/16" thickness material and would you recommend it for such material?
Great video David! I’ve been looking for bird’s mouth bits with a 1/4 shank. Do you know where I can get them?
I wish that I lived next door to you
David, can you provide us with some dimensions for the boxes and lamps?
Hi David thank you for posting these great videos once I watched your videos I was hooked and bought a 6/12 and made a couple of nice pieces. I made a piece similar to the napkin holder but it came out smaller than expected. I used different width staves and was wondering g if there is a
A formula to determine the final size.
Hi Mark! Thanks for the nice comments! Regarding size, the outer circumference of the piece will always be the sum of the widths of the staves, of course, but I suspect that the sizing problem you ran into had to do with the relative proportions of the staves after you adjusted the widths. I find it very helpful to draw out the planned polygon to full or half size on 1/4" crosshatched scratch paper. This gives you a direct picture of the relative proportions of the piece and the its real dimensions. I can easily see where going from my 8-sided napkin holders to a 6-sided equivalent, as you did, could lead to confusion about how well the napkins would fit. Use of 1/4" crosshatch paper ( Office Depot or most school supply stores) lets you read measurements right off the paper. That makes it easy to see where you're going.
The same BMJ bit can be used for any size of box?
Thank you! I found your channel while looking for elliptical wood cores for large (12"x10"x60') yacht masts - to be reinforced with glass rovings and socks. I might be aiming a little high perhaps - any thoughts?
Hi Steve! I would be way out of my depth saying anything substantive about constructing masts. That said, I have seen several videos from people making masts with BMJ. And, of course, it is a traditional way to do it, for small masts at least. For BMJ construction on your scale, mast staves would probably have to be made on a table saw because of thickness requirements. However, commercial router bits to handle up to 2" stock are now available on Amazon and perform well (I've used them.) And, if a lot of repetitive work on a big job is to be done, custom router bits can be ordered. I can tell you that cutting an accurate BMJ V-groove on the band saw is difficult because high precision is required, i.e. angular errors are additive. An accurately cut BMJ router bit makes the V-grooving process fast, easy and repeatable. I say "accurately cut" because not all commercial bits are equally good; I and several viewers have run into inaccurate bits where the cut angle is not quite correct.
Regarding glass rovings and socks, I'm afraid that my nautical knowledge is too limited; I don't know what they are!
I hope that this helps; good luck with the project!
Dave Henry
Mr. Henry,
I have very much enjoyed your videos and I'm interested in applying this technique to an 8 foot long 8 sided column made out of 2x6 lumber. the sides will be about 1 1/4 inches thick, so the standard router bits that you have demonstrated with won't work. Have you ever applied this technique to thicker stock? If so, any pointers will be very helpful.
Hi Dara! For a job such as you are planning, Magnate makes a big 8-side bit, with 2" cutting edges. I have one and it works fine for me with thick stock. I bought mine through Amazon.
Thanks for the kind remarks and good luck on the project!
I have never seen BMJ projects until your video today. I'm curious about the history of this type of joinery. How long has it been done? Was the a manual plane/tool to do this before the router table? Can you recommend any books? Thank your for your time and expertise on this type of joinery. - Annie
Hi Annie! Thanks for your comments and questions. BMJ is an old joinery technique (perhaps hundreds of years) but I'm not an expert on its history. It has been used historically for framing barns and , in masonry, for building stone or brick arches. A common use in woodworking has been for building hollow masts for small boats, where the joinery has been shaped by two cuts with a table saw. I'm not sure but I doubt if the router bits go back more than a few decades. I've seen a few brief references to it in contemporary woodworking books but am not aware of any that go into it in depth. I have considered the internet to be the best way to keep track of it. As a technique it is not well known at all; most woodworkers don't seem to have heard of it. I find this situation quite odd as it is an extremely versatile technique and deserves more usage.
Your projects are amazing!!! Do you know if the 16 side BMJ can take a heavy sanding or turn on lathe???
Thanks RC! I've not worked with the 16-side bit as much as the others but see no reason that 16-sided pieces should behave any differently. The short side of the V-groove made by the 16-side bit is quite narrow and, with heavy rounding (as on a lathe), might be removed completely. In which case you would be left with a nearly full-width mitered edge joint, a perfectly good joint for most purposes. I have never turned a BMJ piece but a friend has done so and he was very enthusiastic. And there are some CZcams videos where it is done, all quite successfully as I recall.
Hi RC! I was partly asleep in my first response (above) to your question about the 16-side bit and turning. The point about the short side of the V-groove only applies to turning the inside of the vessel. Turning the outside would be the same as with all of the BMJ bits; i.e. no problems.
Thanks! I would love to see some videos of that!
Curious about the glue strength when glueing end grain to long grain and to whether you should choose not to glue the bottom and top to allow them to grow and shrink. Enjoyed your video and subscribed.
Hi Wayne! Thanks for the comments and the subscription!
Regarding my cross grain glue joints, I have with some past projects tried to allow for expansion by only spot gluing tops and bottoms. This apparently worked because I've had no problems with loose joints or cracking. On the other hand, I've done the full glue joints enough times, also without problems, that I just don't worry about it much anymore. The key here, I think, is the relatively small size of my constructions. Quite possibly, one of these days one of my joints will fail and it'll be "eat crow" time!
+davidhenry32 That makes sense, homes stay fairly consistent, temperature and humidity wise nowadays. What about the long grain being glued to the end grain?
Regarding the cross-grain glue joints, my answer is pretty much the same as the answer above, Wayne. The two wood pieces in the joint expand in different directions, and, if they fail, I would blame these conflicting expansions. However, since I haven't experienced any failures, I credit my good luck to the fact that BMJ joints have two glue faces, are very tight and well-fitted, and, as glue joints, they are exceptionally strong. This results in their ability to resist expansion damage as long as the joints are not too big. It is possible that my use of TiteBond III glue also has an effect; it retains a slight flexibility after curing that may help absorb expansion strains.
How do you set the depth and hight for a 6 sideed box they never line up for me
Getting the router settings right the first few tries can be tricky. Rather than trying to explain it in words, I suggest you look at my introductory video on bird mouth joinery, found on my CZcams channel, davidhenry32.. If you still are having problems, please contact me again. Good luck!
Sorry, Dale, but I have never seen quarter-inch BMJ bits.
what is the horsepower of the router you use is 3 1/4 good enough
Hi William! 3 1/4 hp should be ample. My routers are all smaller than that.
The only way I can figure out how to put the electrical line inside the tube and out the the hole in the lamp base is to insert the tube/wire before final glue up. What am I missing?
Hi John! The way I do it is to install the central tube and appropriate other parts into the finished lamp base, but stop before actually screwing the light socket in place. Next insert the power cord wire into the hole in the lamp base, then up the tube until it pokes well out of the top of the lamp base. Then wire in the socket. Then pull excess power wire back through the tube and screw the socket onto the top of tube. This puts twist into the power wire but, if needed, this can be reversed by untwisting the wire at the base of the lamp.
This process is not very intuitive but is necessary if using the power cord usually provided in the lamp kits. Such cords usually have a built-in plug on one end that won't fit through the tube.
Thanks for watching the video, John! I hope that this helps with the installation problem..
Thanks Dave, I have really enjoyed your videos, learned a lot and now on my 4th octagon project. Made 2 for practice, one from curly and birdseye maple and am currently making a black iphone/ipad charging station/box. Lamp to come. Keep up the good work.
truth will out
Thanks for your encouragement, Kenneth! I'm going to keep working on it!