# Forum Home Renovation General Odds & Sods  Connecting two pieces of painted timber without seeing join

## Gooner

I have decorative strips that are to go on top of some cabinets. See photos. The timber strips come in 2.2M lengths and I have some 2.4M runs so I have to connect two strips in these runs. 
As these are decorative strips that go on the top of the cabinets, I do not want to see a join. No matter how nicely I cut them, the join is obvious. (To me at least.) Because of the finish on the strips, painting them makes them look different to the rest of the cabinets. 
So I am wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to connect these strips and minimize the obviousness of the join. 
Specifically, these are Ikea decorative strips (402.736.92)

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## Marc

Have two joins not one, each at say 200 mm from the end. Make the join obvious by offsetting the additional piece some 5 mm back to make it a feature. Shouldn't be too hard to match the paint on the little strip that will show.

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## Whitey66

Try a scarf joint, cut with a very fine blade and accurate mitre saw.

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## ForeverYoung

mitre joint rather than butt join

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## Uncle Bob

Since you're painting it, you can use a filler to hide any bad joints.

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## Gooner

Thanks all for the feedback and suggestions. 
Marc, I like your idea and this is the type of out-of-box ideas I was looking for. However, as I have cabinets with different depths, I cannot see how I can do this without it looking very odd. 
I have tried a mitre joint and also used filler in the join, but I just cant seem to get it right. I used no-more-gaps mixed with matched paint, but it looks messy. 
Uncle Bob - I am not painting them. They already have a finish on them and painting them doesn't look right. 
I am thinking one of my problems is that my mitre saw has a 40 tooth blade on it. I have used this for years and has generally been OK for the work I have done. However, I think for this I may need to upgrade to a 80 tooth blade to get a finer cut so the pieces join better. My existing blade has been going for several years and probably suffering from lack of sharpness as well.  
Not sure if anyone has recommendations on a good 254mm saw blade to get a good cut on finished timber.

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## r3nov8or

> mitre joint rather than butt join

  Yep, agree 
And the new blade should help. Or ask a cabinet maker to cut it for you  
Or use the butt join and place the cut perfectly in the middle of 'features' like the cabinet doors per pic #2 
And regardless, you will be the only person who notices  :Smilie:

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## Marc

I like Reno's idea. Have one butt joint in the middle and make it obvious by chamfering the edge. You will need to make a matching finish for the groove on the joint.
Diablo circular saw blade. Not cheap  https://www.totaltools.com.au/113123...ish-2608644437

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## ForeverYoung

> .... 
> I have tried a mitre joint and also used filler in the join, but I just cant seem to get it right. I used no-more-gaps mixed with matched paint, but it looks messy. 
> ...

  the advantage of the mitre join is you can pin the 2 pieces together so you don't see the gap.

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## PaulDW

If the ends of the moulding are contained by the sides a whisker over size would push a butt joint together without having pin holes to hide. I have some pieces of architrave cut with Makita 60 tooth 10 & 12" mitre saws that go back together with just a hairline.

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## Gooner

So I bought a decent 80 tooth blade and reali*s*ed... what a difference. After removing, I see my 40T has lots of chips on the teeth. The 80T goes through like butter and it joins up much better with a hairline. A bit of grey no-more-gaps helps to hide it as well.

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## r3nov8or

Good stuff

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## Marc

Which brand did you buy?

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## Gooner

> Which brand did you buy?

  I bought a Full Boar 80T 254mm diameter fine finishing blade. Difference with the old blade is chalk and cheese. I hardly feel it go through the material. I may need a new 40T as well.

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## METRIX

> I bought a Full Boar 80T 254mm diameter fine finishing blade. Difference with the old blade is chalk and cheese. I hardly feel it go through the material. I may need a new 40T as well.

  Old blades will give rubbish quality cuts, 40 tooth on a 254mm blade is only suitable for cutting framing. 
If you buy blades from Bunnings, look at the Makita BluMak, these crap on most blades for cut quality and life, even though the 255mm blade has 64T, it's the quality of the tungsten that makes it a better blade. 
For fine finish work I use the 184mm saw, with 60T blades, the cut quality is perfect, you couldn't get a piece of paper between any joins.

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