Replies

1. 
   JAR | Aug 01, 1999 06:29am | #1

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   I remember that also. As I recall the suggestion for returns meant to use an angle larger than 45 degrees so that the wall side of the mantle would be 1" longer than the front side of the mantle. In other words the ends would not be 90 degree cuts on the finished product.

2. 
   Guest_ | Aug 01, 1999 07:12am | #2

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   If a return is made using a 45 deg cut, then the short side of the 45 would be flush with the mantle or whatever you were casing out. The long side of said 45 would increase the width of the mantle or whatever by the 45 degree thickness of the cut of the stock being used. This would probably be times two if the return were needed on each end

1. 
   Guest_ | Aug 01, 1999 07:27am | #3

   * Jim,

   The post was by RJT, you could search the thread and get all the particulars.

   Joseph Fusco View Image

1. 
   Guest_ | Aug 02, 1999 07:26am | #4

   *JbAs I recall, there was a little bit more to it than that. . .the suggestion was to i resaw the board,and use some of the material gained to add returns, thereby lengthening the board, but, obviously sacrificing about 3/4" of thickness to new material and sawdust.Another suggestion further refined this idea by having the new material for the returns, reclaimed from the middle of the underside of the board only, the resulting groove being covered by the returns. . . waaaay tricky, but quite nifty!!! I think the technique was to rip the board, remove a strip long enough for the returns and reglue with a patch on the underside-pm

1. 
   Guest_ | Aug 02, 1999 08:47am | #5

   *Patrick - even if you had enough material to make returns with, I don't see how this would lengthen the original board. That is what is so confusing to me and makes me think there is some technique I don't know about. I have thought about this many times the past few months, and always end up scratchin' my head. - jb

1. 
   Guest_ | Aug 02, 1999 08:51am | #6

   *Jar - I've never seen that, but you know, it could work. So you're sayin' the angle might be, say, 35 degrees, so the two pieces would add up to 70 degrees, makin' the back side longer than the front. That might work. Thanks - jb

2. 
   Guest_ | Aug 02, 1999 09:10am | #7

   *JimboIf you're thinking in terms of mitre-ing a return then you are correct, but if the i so called return,is added to each end as a "detail" (butt joint-bread board end-slightly thinner perhaps-stepped down at the top etc.)you can pick up 1/2" (or more) at each end and gain back the 1" lost.One of my German cabinetmaking teachers woulda called this a "Dutchman". Why, I once asked? I won't repeat the blatant racism that followed. . . he was a real "master" though, and a hell of a teacher. . . a rare combo!-pm

3. 
   Guest_ | Aug 02, 1999 11:09am | #8

   *Patrick...yeh, now you're talkin'. An added "detail" I can fathom. I have always thought of a "return" the way you describe it and a "dutchman" as the mitered piece thet you use to not expose endgrain, like at the end of a run of base or the ends of an apron under a window sill for example. Again, I have been bamboozled with words. Semantics. Thanks - Jim

4. 
   Guest_ | Aug 03, 1999 04:07am | #9

   *Man, can you guys type a little slowwer, the pinwheel on my beanie is spinning out of control!I've always thought a return was anything that covered endgrain,ie,window sills and aprons, base, and the ends of stair treads, etc. And that dutchmen were the little butterflies that held checked boards in check, or patched holes or defects. Thanks a bunch for testing the relief valve on my brain.Good thing I got the plumber to install a brain pan, BB

3. 
   dickiey | Aug 03, 1999 04:59am | #10

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   how bouts a board strecher. The guys on my crew are always sending me for one....but I just cant find it.

4. 
   Guest_ | Aug 03, 1999 06:38am | #11

   *
   Hey Bucky

   Yer mostly right about
   i returns,
   but my old cab. instructer called any kind of a
   i repair
   necessitated by "poor workmanship" a
   i Dutchman
   because of his bigoted opinion of anyone of that nationality. I didn't realize it had universal implications until I saw it referred to the odd time on this board and "Knots".

   'Course you could flip around the bigotry and say a "Dutchman" is any kind of
   i ingenious repair
   necessitated by "Murphy"

   -pm

1. 
   Guest_ | Aug 03, 1999 07:21am | #13

   *PM, makes you wonder what a Dutch cabinetmaker would call the same thing Ja? Perhaps: Deutchman?

5. 
   Guest_ | Aug 03, 1999 07:21am | #12

   *
   Remember a few months back when somebody cut a "one of a kind board from another country" one inch too short, and asked for advice on how to fix it? Many folks voiced the opinion that he could minimize the damage by cuting returns on the ends of the board.

   I was a newby then, but thought to myself, "they must know a way of cuttin' returns that I don't", but I was not confident enough to ask. So now I'm askin'. How does usin' returns make a board longer? Thanks - jb