[Tony]

Hi everyone,
I have not done much of this with pegging and attaching an arm to a carving. Preferably one does not want to drill all the way from the outside of the arm to the body to avoid showing the surface of the peg. What is the best way to allign the pegs and drilling the holes to get an accurate fit? Thanks.

Tony

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Tony....Here's the way I do it and it works every time.

1. Make sure you allow yourself some extra material on the upper part of the arm where it will join the torso. Also,the torso should also have some excess matter that will be carved away once the arm is attached. I just rough carve these areas until the appendage is attached.

2. Sand each part level where it joins. This is critical for a good join. I use my disc sander but you could glue a piece of sandpaper on a flat board and accomplish the same thing.

3. Drill a 1/8" hole just deep enough to hold a piece of dowel in the arm to be attached. The dowel's real purpose is to just align the pieces. The glue will dothe main work. Sometimes I don't even use a dowel.

4. Take a pencil and run it around the outside edge of the drilled hole. Place the arm lightly in the position you want and give it a little pressure and a gentle twist. When you pull it away it should have left a mark on the torso to show you exactly where to drill the corresponding hole. Drill it just deep enough to hold the dowel.

5. Preassemble the two pieces and mark a mark on the top across each piece to help you align them.

6. Glue the dowel in the arm. Put some glue in the dowel hole on the torso on on the flat surface. Put the two together and align them.

7. I use a thin strip of innertube but you could use a thick rubber band to wrap around the two pieces to hole them in place until dry.

8. Once dry carve off the excess and you have it perfectly attatched.

You can check out my blog on carving the Chuck Wagon Cook to see so photos of this process.

5.

[Tony]

I got it. Thank you very much for the very clear explanation. I really do appreciate it.

Tony