# scarf joints before or after resawing



## Daveswoodcraft (Oct 10, 2012)

Hi All
I am in the process of making a hollow wooden surfboard for a friend of mine and have a questions about making and using a scarf joint.
I need to stretch the lumbe rI have by about a foot, I am familiar with scarf joints but never used one personally.

Here is the question, I am using northern white cedar that is about 5/4 thick rough thickness. I need to joint and plane then resaw to 1/4-1/3 final thickness

Do I scarf joint it before or after bringing it to final thickness? Does one or the other make for a stonger joint?

Thanks for your help
Dave Dionne


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## ChrisK (Dec 18, 2009)

Make the scarf at the thickness easiest for you to cut it and glue it. Assuming the wood is good through the thickness the strength of the joint is a function of the glued area. The important thing is to make sure the entire joint has glue on it, no dry areas. Sounds like a fun project.


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## levan (Mar 30, 2010)

Will this be a single board wide? Do you have capacity to re-saw entire width? It may be a lot easier and stronger to use a board or boards that are long enough. 
I have never made a surf board, but it seems like they may take a lot of abuse.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

You may find it easier to clamp the tapered scarf joints
in the thicker dimension.

Depending on the glue you use the glue line may 
put some wear on your resaw blade.

These are minor considerations. I think structurally
either way will be fine.


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## shipwright (Sep 27, 2010)

If the scarf is 8:1, it will be as strong as the rest of the piece. It makes no difference whether it is done before or after but personally, I'd do it after for better glue-up control. 
I've done a lot of scarfing. Here's a blog entry on how I do it.
This one may be better.


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## Daveswoodcraft (Oct 10, 2012)

Thanks everybody

Sorry for the long time since I posted got busy there for a bit, didn't end up scarfing the boards after all but went for a solid tail and nose.
Thanks again 
Dave


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