Crown and Plane Deck Joists
Clamping adjacent joists together and planing their top edges level before installing them.
Pull a Bowed Deck Board Straight With a Clamp and a Speed Square
Drop a speed square's fence into the gap between two fastened deck boards and it becomes an anchor. Hook a bar clamp to it, pull the bowed board into line, and both hands are free to drive the screws.
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The Problem
Deck boards arrive with a crown or a bow in them. Laying a bowed board next to a straight run leaves a gap that opens in the middle and closes at the ends, and the bow has to be pushed out while the screws go in.
Doing that alone means one hand levering the board over with a pry bar or a chisel dropped into the joist, and the other hand trying to drive a screw. The board springs back the moment the lever moves to the next joist.
The Technique
A speed square makes the anchor a clamp needs.
- Drop the fence of a speed square into the gap between two boards that are already fastened down, a board or two back from the one you're laying. The fence hooks the edge and the body of the square lies flat on the deck.
- Set the bowed board in position.
- Hook one jaw of a bar clamp against the speed square and the other against the edge of the bowed board.
- Tighten the clamp. The board pulls into line against the square, which can't move because its fence is trapped in the gap.
- Drive your screws.
- Release and move both along to the next section of the bow.
Pro tip: Work the bow out in sections rather than trying to pull the whole board straight at once. Fasten the section that's in line, then move the clamp along and pull the next part in. A board that's fighting you along its whole length usually just needs the fasteners to catch up with the clamp.
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