Toe and Rub Rail Fabrication, Part 2

November 1, 2015

Picking up where I left off on Saturday, I fed each of the rub and toe rail blanks through the router to create a shallow rabbit on their underside.  The reason for the rabbit is to provide a space for the bedding compound (polysulfide) to ooze into as the rails are fastened to the deck and topsides.  Preventing most of the polysulfide from squeezing out will help protect against water intrusion.

The router bit I used was 1/2" in width.

The first toe rail blank that I ran through the router turned out NOT to be to my satisfaction - I set the depth of the router bit too deep.  It's a good thing that I had nine boards to choose from in selecting the 6 boards I would need for both toe rails, so accepting my error I lowered the bit to create a shallower rabbit...problem solved.

Once I had all nine boards run through the router I turned my attention to the rub rail boards.

I used the same 1/2" router bit to create a similar rabbit on the underside of the rub rails.

My next step was to lay out the eight rub rails blanks to then select the best 6 for the starboard and port rails, and to select those boards best fit for either the starboard side or the port side.

After finalizing my decision on the 6 boards, and the boards that would fill out the port and starboard rails, I then recreated the bevel on the topside of each rub rail blank.  I did not bother to measure the exact degree of the angle - my guess would be a 6 to 8 degree angle. 

With the bevel applied to each of the boards' top side, I then prepared all rails for scarf joints.

I started the scarfing task with the toe rails. Prior to running the boards over the table saw with the scarfing sled I selecting the best 6 blanks from the nine available to me, also choosing which boards would be best for port and starboard.

Clamping each of the boards on the sled, I ran them over the table saw with the scarfing sled to create a 12:1 scarf joint.

A simple, early project was now coming in quite handy.

Once I had cut scarf joints in all of the rails I then cleaned up some the table saw's slop (marks) with the finish sander.

I laid out of the rub rails on the back patio, on top of some plastic sheeting.  To create the best bond possible I wiped down the scarf joints with acetone to remove sanding dust and any other contaminates that could hinder the best bond possible.  After cleaning the surface I applied a coat of "clean" epoxy - just resin and hardener.

After waiting ~15 minutes for the unthickened epoxy to saturate the grain - time I used cleaning up the shop and grabbing a cold drink - I mixed up some epoxy thickened with micro-balloons and colloidal silica.  I applied a liberal amount to each of the scarf joints and then proceeded to clamp the joints.  Tomorrow I get to see how well I clamped these joints (fingers crossed).

Total Time: 5.5 Hrs.