how do i stitch on an arm

[spinner]

Although I've been carving for over 30 years, off & on, sometimes I feel like I'm still a beginner. I carved a little man , that I have to attach one hand & wrist to the forearm. I need some help from the experts

[scooter]

Duct tape, of course.

:-)

S~

[Robson Valley]

There's a thread down the list on Joining pieces with dowels & wooden pins. The trick is to get the necessary holes to line up. Bits of bamboo BBQ skewers/toothpicks/dowels & pegs, etc.
I'm using store-bought dowel pegs and bamboo pieces for the little stuff. A few drops of A+B mix epoxy doesn't hurt.

[Mitchell]

If the arm has a sleeve, drill a hole for the hand and wrist to fit into.

If you want to fit a hand onto a bare arm, then you need to glue it. The joint needs to be flush. Use a knife or flat chisel to get the two sides flat if they do not fit together already.

I use a mixture of elmers wood glue and CA glue ("superglue"). I put a thin layer of wood glue on one side and a bit of CA glue on the other.....then stick them together. You have to hold them for a minute.

Option 1 - use a dowel to strengthen the joint and you will not have to hold the two pieces together waiting for the glue to set. Drill holes in each piece. The draw back - getting the holes to line up so the pieces fit. If you haven't finished carving the pieces, then you can trim them down after glued.

Option 2 - If the carving is small, it may not be feasible to drill holes for the dowel. You can use a metal pin to hold them together. Actually you could use the pin method on a bigger carivng. Either way - be sure to test fit before adding the glue.

[Robert Cahill]

I drill a hole in the shoulder and then pencil the outside edge of the hole line up the arm and press and twist. The graphite from the pencil will mark on the arm where to drill. I picked this up from watching Lynn's video and it works well for me.

[BeaverDon]

Is the area to join end grain or long grain? If it's end grain to end grain, you must use mechanical reinforcement. This can be a dowel and glue. if the joint is side grain to side grain, carpenter's glue is all you need as long as there's good contact between the two parts and , depending upon the shape of the pieces, you can often get away with "clamping" the parts with masking tape. Even in that situation, you might want a dowel to help align the parts and reinforce the joint. Many factors as you can see. Can you post a photo?

This might help.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Hands to arms? Make sure the arm is covered by a sleeve that's large enough to accept the hand which has been carved with it's own dowel (bone?). Just drill a hole in the arm and then the wrist bone is connected to the arm bone. Simple! When attaching arms to the body just use a 1/8" dowel. Check out my videos which will show you how I do it. Use wood glue not super glue and a thin piece of old innertube is the best clamp you will find as it will conform to just about any shape and get tighter each time you make a wrap. Don't worry too much about opposing grains as if you use a dowel you pretty well eliminate that problem.

[BeaverDon]

Here's a video of how I do dowel joints on small pieces.

[spinner]

great video. Now I have courage to finish my little man.

[Old Codger]

Excellent video BeaverDon!!! Thanks for laying everything out and explaining each step prior to performing the next one...even though I've done joints a number of times, it's always nice to see someone else's methods... Great job! Thanks and safe carving to you!!!
Kenn