horizontal sections of a prairie style railing
Ed Shuster submitted this IPE design in the gallery and it was featured in a couple of editions I saw.
I would like to try and reproduce this but I want to avoid any visible fasteners so toeing screws is not what I want
Is the only practical solution glue and clamping (gorilla glue i presume)
Here is a photo
and a link to ed’s beautiful design.
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/item/7598/ipe-deck-with-prairie-style-railing
Replies
I'd be tempted to use dowels.
I would look at the Festool Domino. http://www.finewoodworking.com/ToolGuide/ToolGuideArticle.aspx?id=28038
Then, after you see the price, you'll probably want to make mortise and tenon joints using more traditional tools. I think that is the only way to get joints strong enough to work, even for those small pieces.
Note that you'd want to dowel/tenon the individual panels together (with glue), then somehow loosely attach the panels to the rails. Probably best would be to use dowels on the bottom, then set the top into a recess in the top rail and fill in the gaps with wood blocks (no fasteners holding the panels to the top rail). That way the panels will be able to move with respect to the top rail.
You need the better part of an inch recess in the top rail, to allow for shrinkage of the panels.
Gorilla is good but messy (& leaves stains) -- there are probably better glue options.