Cutting Scarf Joints for Toe Rail and Rub Rails

     On Sunday, July 3rd, I took the opportunity to cut the scarf joints in the toe rail and the rub rail material.  I headed back over to The Pine Cottage, visited with my buddy Glen a bit, and then got started with construction of the jig.  After consulting a bit with Glen on proper layout, I dug into the cull bin and collected material to build the jig.  The use of the jig would assist in making sure my angled cuts were consistent from one length of rail to the next; it consisted of a plywood base, cleat stock, and a plywood fence.  The picture below shows the plywood base, the parallel cleats in the center would hold the rails as well as support the circular saw, other cleats to support the circular saw, and one of the plywood fences to create a "track" for the circular saw to pass through.

Here is a good picture illustrating how the jig allows the rails to be held between the cleat stock, and how the circular saw is guided across the rails at the required angle.

This picture shows the saw immediately after cutting one of the rails and prior to me removing the saw from the jig.

Here is a picture of one of the rails after being cut.  The scarf cut can be clearly seen.

I ran 6 lengths of toe rail through the scarfing jig, and 6 lengths of rub rail as well.  Here are the rails laid out as they will be installed on Froonie - port and starboard.  Originally, while cutting the profiles for the toe rails, I took advantage of some natural bend in the teak...so hopefully installation will be made that much easier.

A proper scarf joint is made with a 8:1 ratio.  That is, for every inch of thickness in the stock eight inches of scarf length is cut.  The thickness of Froonie's toe rails is 3/4", so my ratio is actually closer to 9.3:1.  This longer scarf joint will provide more surface area for the epoxy glue up of the rails - making for an even stronger joint.  Gluing the joints together with epoxy will be done at the boat, just prior to installation.