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Fail-safe miter joints for boxes and picture frames

November 30, 2010 By

A shoulder injury two years ago forced me to make a lighter crosscut sled than the much larger, heavier sled I had used for many years. But now that my shoulder is much better I have found a new use for the lighter sled: miter cuts for small boxes. However, mitered crosscuts result in thin and fragile edges on the sides of the kerf area, where the table saw blade runs.

I came up with a solution: make a replaceable insert for the miter crosscut sled – and simply replace this insert as needed. I cut off and removed some plywood from the sled, and sized and inserted a new, removable red oak insert. After setting the blade angle precisely using the Wixey Digital Angle Gauge, I cut the new kerf in the insert at exactly 45°:

Crosscut sled to cut miters on box sides.

I use a wood block to get repeatable length on the box sides:

Detail of removable insert on crosscut miter sled.

The same afternoon I also made a 45° frame sled, fashioned after Gary Rogowski’s picture frame sled, as it appeared in FineWoodworking.com. In the following photo I am confirming that the 90° angle is accurate. The thick walnut fences are screwed tightly against the MDF reference triangle I had screwed to the plywood base:

Close-up of MDF triangle used to align and set the 45° miter fences.

Also shown in the previous photo are short blocks on each walnut fence; these will allow clamping of extension wings, for various attachments.

In the following photo I show the picture frame sled in use. One side of the miter joint is cut on one fence, and the second side is cut on the opposite fence – this way, the miters will always be perfect, as any angle errors are canceled out:

Sled used to cut 45° miters on frame sides.

I now share my results. First, the the miter corner on the little box I featured a while back, in the article Letting the wood speak:

Mitered corner on a small box.

I will also be making some picture frames. My first test using the picture frame sled shows a perfect miter:

First miter corner test on a frame - the frame is still on the frame clamp.

I am finally confident that my miters will be perfect!

I would love to hear from you:

  1. How do you currently cut your miters?
  2. Are you happy with the results?
  3. What improvements would you make to get better miters?
  4. Are you already cutting miters with a variation of these sleds?

— Al Navas

Filed Under: Blog, Box making, Design, Jigs, Joinery, Miter Tagged With: , , , , , ,

A new and indispensable tool

November 29, 2010 By

Not long ago I published a photo of a part of some spectacular curly maple I bought; it is destined for a special project early next year. I received a request for a small piece of the maple from Bill, an avid woodworker and carver, who has published on this blog as a Guest Author. Following a few e-mail messages, we reached an agreement: I would send him a small piece of the curly maple, in exchange for one of his mechanical pencils turned on the lathe.

Note: I use SketchUp, and also eCabinet Systems for design and photo-realistic renderings. But I (almost) always start with a concept in a notebook – paper and pencil. Even a napkin sometimes comes in handy. A quality pencil is indispensable for this, and also a good quality notebook, to keep a working log of ideas and variations. Of course, this book will be be of untold value in about 250 years…

I just received the pencil, as shown in the following photo (the gnomon is six inches long):

Mechanical pencil in curly maple.

I asked Bill to confirm the finish on the turned pencil, as it has such a nice, smooth feel in the hand. He wrote the following:

I used Tiger “Super Blonde” shellac maybe ½ lb. cut, two applications, with 320 grit (Klingspor), then 6 layers of thin CA with micromesh 3600 to 8000 between layers. Then two applications of Renaissance Wax, to keep fingerprints to a minimum or to protect the guilty. ;-)

I use two tools to turn pens and 3/8 Doug Thompson bowl gouge, has a 64° fingernail grind, and a ½” skew with a flat grind. I take the convex (grinding wheel) out, then pull it across a leather strop a few times. With practice it takes about 4 min to put an edge on, but that’s only if I nick it or something. Most of the time I just refresh the edge with a diamond hone.

Bottom line: I love this pencil. It feels perfectly balanced in my hand during use; I am sure the short length accounts much for this feel. Although I have used mechanical pencils for many years, this one has the mass to give me the confidence that I can draw in prolonged sessions without fatigue. It is heavy, 44.7 grams (1.58 oz), and as a result I do not worry about applying pressure; I need only guide it as I write on paper. In contrast, a regular pencil sharpened only a couple of times, weighs 4.1 grams (0.14 oz.)

Thanks, Bill!

— Al Navas

Filed Under: Blog, Design Tagged With: ,

The beauty in the wood

November 23, 2010 By

Sometimes we find a special piece of wood — for example, the curly maple in the lid of this box:

Curly maple in a box lid.

I like to allow the wood to highlight a piece; in this case, incorporating the curly maple into the lid seems appropriate. The rest of the box looks as follows:

Box with finger joints and curly maple in lid.

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A corner shot of the box.

To register the lid in the box I used mitered inserts in the lid:

Mitered inserts in the lid, to register the lid to the box.

These boxes are very nice keepsakes, and make wonderful gits. If you wish to buy one for someone this holiday season, please contact me. I will do my best to get it delivered in time to go under the tree.

— Al Navas

Filed Under: Blog, Box making, Design Tagged With: ,

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