Miter Joint Nightstand Question

[Alex Vessey]

Hi folks,

I just built a pretty cool new walnut bed and, in the spirit of the mouse and the cookie, find myself in need of some cool matching nightstands. I've got it planned out and my wood purchased but I'm a little unclear on a couple things so I wanted to see if anyone had advice before I soldier on blindly and (maybe) make some mistakes. I'm aiming for something generally resembling this: gallery_9.jpg or this table.jpg. There will be some differences but mainly I am curious about how to achieve the beveled joint for the outer frame that frequently shows up on these type of night stands. Will a simple glueup suffice? Cursory research seems to recommend splines but neither of these (very fancy and expensive) tables show any additional reinforcement so it's either absent or well hidden. If I can get my angles spot on and my clamping game down will I be OK? I could add pocket holes but I'd prefer to avoid those unless absolutely necessary. They will probably never hold more than a few lbs so they don't need to be bomb proof but they need to be sturdy enough. Thanks in advance.

[Stew Hagerty]

Hi Alex. First I would like to ask if you have a particular reason that you want to do mitered corners? It's a perfectly valid way of building the tables, but it does tend to be weaker and is definitely more difficult to build. Second, are you using plywood or solid wood?
The long miters can be strengthened with splines as you mentioned, and if you do not like to have them show you can make stopped grooves on a router table instead of running it all the way through the front & back. They can also be strengthened to some degree with biscuits, or quite strongly with Dominoes if you have a machine.
The other way would be to build it without the mitered corners. Attach the bottom to the inside (or to the bottom of) the sides, and attach the sides to the bottom of the top. If you are using plywood, you will just have to use some kind of edging, just as you would on the front and back edges. You can reinforce those joints with dowels, biscuits, or even the dreaded pocket holes (LOL).

[Steve Jenkins]

I've made lots of boxes with mitered corners for night stands, end tables and other things. I've used both veneered mdf and solid wood. I reinforce the miters with biscuits and have never had a problem in over 30 years.
If you are going to use a spline and solid wood watch your grain direction

[Alex Vessey]

Thanks guys.

Stew - it's purely for aesthetics (and for edification). I like to pick a new technique or two for each project to learn something with every build; for this it was the edges and installing drawers (I'm pretty new). At first blush the mitered edges didn't look too difficult but I may have to reconsider as I don't have a biscuit joiner and splines might be a little more labor intensive than I was going for. If it changes anything they will be made out of solid walnut.

[Wayne Lomman]

Use a high strength glue if you don't want to do biscuits or splines. Epoxy will work well. It has the added benefit of a long open time so you don't have to rush so much when clamping.

Speaking of clamping, use 2 or 3 cheapo ratchet straps around the outside of the whole job. A simple method and it applies even pressure. Protect your corners with rabbetted timber blocks. Cheers

[Stew Hagerty]

Thanks guys.

Stew - it's purely for aesthetics (and for edification). I like to pick a new technique or two for each project to learn something with every build; for this it was the edges and installing drawers (I'm pretty new). At first blush the mitered edges didn't look too difficult but I may have to reconsider as I don't have a biscuit joiner and splines might be a little more labor intensive than I was going for. If it changes anything they will be made out of solid walnut.

Solid wood over plywood makes little difference. Without splines, biscuits, or some other alignment/strengthening method, i believe you eould find mitered corners quite difficult to line up, and keep, straight. I think I would recommend traditional 90° construction, perhaps using rebates, or dowels for alignment and added strength.
Or hey... If you want to try new things, why not dovetail the corners?

[Brian Tymchak]

As others have suggested, the miter joint will need some sort of reinforcement. Whether it's solid wood or plywood, it's (mostly) an end-grain joint and glue alone will not provide a long lasting solution. Along with reinforcing the joint, the cabinet will need some other piece of structure, like a cabinet back, to hold the structure rigid, not allowing it to rack.

[Lee Schierer]

A locking miter joint would be self aligning and stronger than an ordinary miter joint. The zig zag would barely be noticeable at the front corners. Just remember when you glue the joint that it will essentially be an end grain joint, so coat both sides of each joint with ample glue to get a strong joint.

[John Lankers]

At least the nightstand on the right looks like a wall hung unit to me and depending on how you attach the back - locking rabbet, dowels, biscuits, screws, ... - it will square it up and add enough stiffness and strength to keep the miters together. However, as suggested a lock miter joint would make assembly so much easier, no slip and slide .

[Alex Vessey]

Lots of great info here. I'm currently leaning toward either a 90 degree join with a rabbet (and thus probably reinforcing with some screws) or doing some finger joints (about 100 of them, oi) as those seem the most feasible with my current know-how and shop access. Dovetails would certainly look cool and are a skill I'd like to learn at some point but that would mean extending this project far longer than I'd like as I'm pretty fussy and I know it would take me some serious time to nail down perfectly haha. I'll be sure to post some pics after I get finished. Thanks!

[Bob Grier]

Wow Alex! I have been working on the same project and have been considering much the same things. Mainly the joints but also also how to build the drawer with dovetail joints using Leigh jig. The night stand I selected is the one on the right of your pictures with a couple changes. I decided to delete the bottom shelf and go with just the drawer. This will be my first drawer construction without using sliders so that is messing with me too.

I am also considering using a french cleat to mount to the wall so I can easily move it sideways maybe 4" to 6". I wonder if it will end up getting knocked of the wall. I guess I can put a small screw in the cleat to hold it in place if a problem develops. I talk about "it" but will have two of them.

[Art Mann]

I like Lee's idea of the lock miter joint. That is way stronger than a simple miter joint. Just be prepared to do a little experimentation with scrap to get the technique down right. The lock miter bit requires a good router table and a very precise setup to get a perfect joint.

[Warren Wilson]

Ales:

I've made quite a few of the kinds of joints you are pondering. I often use biscuits, but not always. I've also used splines cut on the table saw, and consider the way they look at the ends to actually improve the look of the joint by showing off the workmanship.

Cutting the splines is remarkably easy to do accurately. YouTube it: I'm sure you'll find good video. You will want to ensure you get the grain direction right on the splines: running across the joint, not along it.

As for the glue-up: use tape to hold everything in place before assembling it. Once you know that trick, things glue up very nicely and easy to square with the ratchet straps drawing everything nice and tight. That technique is also very straight forward and satisfying. Izzy Sawn demonstrates the technique here.

[Brian Holcombe]

Lock miters are fairly strong, I have a set of bookcases behind my desk that I made with lock mitered joints. It's been long enough that I had to turn around and look at the joinery to remind myself how I built them.

Lock miters are more difficult to do well than it would appear at first glance, they make stock prep especially important (perfectly flat! and everything thicknessed to the same dimension) so I haven't used them in years do to hand thicknessing and the minor variations in thickness that occur because of it. They are require near perfect setup and test runs made from the same stock that you will be using.

Dovetails are easier than you think, and they could be used on the upright corners, where a rabbet and dowels could be used on the lowers.

Those nightstands, being production made, are likely joined with plain miters and reinforced with dowels. Long miters are more difficult to master than they appear, requiring very careful stock preparation and accurate cutting.

[Prashun Patel]

I would use dowels, biscuits or (best?) routed loose tenons. Not only will each of these make the joint strong, it will greatly simplify your glue up. Keeping miters clamped and aligned is a big pain even on small things.

If you aren't married to the waterfall look on the edges, then a beautiful alternative is dovetails with mitered front corners.