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Harry K Harry K is offline
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Default OK to air-nail 2x4s together on their flat faces?

On Mar 16, 9:04*am, Wayne Whitney wrote:
On 2008-03-16, Harry K wrote:

The trick to nailing two (or more) 2X members together so you have a
straight member is to eyeball them and then lay them so the curve is
opposite. *Start nailing at one end and keep pulling the opposite
ends to make the area being nailed match each other as you proceed.
A helper is nice but not really needed. *It will be easy at the
start but grows harder the nearer you approach the opposite end.
The last nail or two may require a clamp to make the members match.


Interesting, when I've been in this situation I've always aligned the
ends and nailed those off, then aligned the midpoints and nailed that,
and then the quarter points, etc. *At a certain point it becomes very
difficult to eliminate the slight difference remaining, so I give up
on the straightening. *This gives me something that is on average
straight, but with perhaps small amounts of curvature between each
nailing point.

So that raises the question of whether one of these ways is better
than the other. *I don't know, any thoughts?

Cheers, Wayne


Hmmm...never heard of doing ti that way. Looks more difficult than
what I described. The method I use is what I learned in a carpentry
course back in the 70s. Biggest member and length I helped with was a
triple member 2x10x30ft for a basement support. Even 2x10 can be
forced straight that way although the last foot or so definitely needs
clamps.

Harry K