Half-lap joints typically feature one board "lapping" over another, as you know. My question is this: does the board on top--the one that "laps over" the one on bottom--necessarily have to "lap over" the full width of the bottom board? That is, would there be a significant disadvantage if the top board only "lapped over" part of the width of the bottom board, so that its end grain didn't show through on the finished joint?
I've attached a screenshot of a simple drawing that I did on Microsoft Publisher (I don't know how to use SketchUp yet). The image at the top shows a traditional half-lap joint, with the top board lapping over the full width of the bottom board. The image below that shows the theoretical joint that I'm asking about, with the top board only lapping over part of the width of the bottom board.
Hopefully this makes some kind of sense.
I've attached a screenshot of a simple drawing that I did on Microsoft Publisher (I don't know how to use SketchUp yet). The image at the top shows a traditional half-lap joint, with the top board lapping over the full width of the bottom board. The image below that shows the theoretical joint that I'm asking about, with the top board only lapping over part of the width of the bottom board.
Hopefully this makes some kind of sense.
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