Miters

[Julie Wright]

Ok so what gives. I saw a couple of differend small boxes posted with Very nice and tight miters. How do you do that? I've set up, cut readjusted and usually at least one miter is off, not much but just enought to have a small gap. which saw do you use? table or compound miter? I have both. Any suggestions for making the miters nice and tight? I want to make a jewlery box or two for christmas so I would like the corners to meet.

THanks
Julie

[Ed Marks]

Ok so what gives. I saw a couple of differend small boxes posted with Very nice and tight miters. How do you do that? I've set up, cut readjusted and usually at least one miter is off, not much but just enought to have a small gap. which saw do you use? table or compound miter? I have both. Any suggestions for making the miters nice and tight? I want to make a jewlery box or two for christmas so I would like the corners to meet.

THanks
Julie

Hi Julie,

So here is what I do:

<li>You should put a extention on the miter guage if you haven't alreay that is longer than the longest peice you're going to cut. Make sure that the miter guage on your table saw is 90* to the blade. Use a square to make sure using the blade you are going to use and the miter guage extention installed.</li>

<li>Cut the 4 sides to about a inch longer then then have to be.</li>

<li>Set the table saw blade at a 45* angle. I use a 45-45-90 drafting square to do this even though I have adjusted the saw to stop at 45* exactly. When you do this, make sure you are holding the square against the blade body. The carbide tip will throw off the angle. You can either get the square to touch the body of the blade or sight it so that it is parallel. (BTW, it helps to have a good crosscut blade but a combo blade will do a good job)</li>

<li>Cut one end of each side. Take the cut as close to the end as you can but insure you get a clean cut. </li>

<li>Mark where the cut goes on the other end of one of the board faces. I always mark the long side. Use a combo square to draw the miter on the side that will face the blade to aid in lining it up. Position it on the miter guage and install a stop block on the miter extention so you can get an exact match on the opposing side. Cut the two opposing sides.</li>

<li>Assuming you are making a rectangle, set the stop block for the other side and cut the other two sides.</li>

<li>Put it together with some band clamps and see how it fits. If all went well you are done. If not, use a block plane to work out the differences. If you are really off by a lot, the blade is not at a 45* angle. I would set the blade again and cut again. The board will tend to move a bit in the band clamps so you may need to help them along as you tighten the clamp. I usually get the clamp to the point where it goes taut and then adjust the sides before I go any tighter. Make sure the band is roughtly parallel around the box you it will just contort around the stress of the clamp.</li>

<li>When you are all ready to glue it, put the box back in the band clamp. Use some 1" masking tape and put a strip around each corner on at least the top and bottom, maybe more if the box is high. Take the clamp off, the box should stay together. Peel back the tape on one corner and "unroll" the box on a flat surface. Put glue on all the miters and use the tape to roll it back into a box. Use the tape you peeled back to fo the last corner. Put the band clamp back on as you have been doing all along. Go get coffee. You're done.</li>

The miter joint itself is not a very strong one. You are gluing mostly end grain to end grain which is not the best joint in the world. I usually run decorative splines across the miters (parallel to the top/bottm of the box) to give them some strength. You can also spline the length of the miter but that's a bit more complicated and does not have much decorative effect. For most jewelry boxes (and similar things), I use the more decorative type.

If I'm in a paranoid mood (as I recenty was with some great looking curly maple) I cut a test box out of some scraps to make sure the blade is at 45*. It helps to do this once and then figure out how to set the stops on your saw so it comes up at 45* every time. Some saws have these and do it well. Others can collect dust on the bolts used for the stops so they get thrown off.

Hope this helps.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

C'mon now...that's not your picture.

I've got dogs in mine, too...but I'm in there with them. Their heads are just bigger than mine.

KC

[Bob Lasley]

Julie,

Ed gave you some excellent advise. Let me give you a couple more ideas and reinforce some of Ed's comments.

I use the table saw, miter saw and router table to cut miters depending on the project and my mood. Cutting box sides on the table saw, I use a dedicated sled I built for cutting miters. It is much like any other crosscut sled except it has always been used with the blade set at 45.
I too, use a drafting triangle to check the blade setting. They are cheap and accurate.

I use the same triangle to check the miter saw setting when I use it.

I made a sled to use with the router table that holds the box side at a 45 to a straight bit and it works well for small boxes. You might also consider using a 45 chamfer bit for cutting miters on the router table.

I find that using splines running the length of the miter make them much easier to clamp true. You can still add decorative horizontal splines if you wish after the glue has set.

Use stops to be sure opposing sides are exactly the same length.

Number the joints, so you don't lose track during assembly.

Hope this helps a little,
Bob

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Julie, Bob and Ed gave you some good advice. There's still another way to get tight miters if your box is shorter than the capacity of your table saw blade. That's a 45 degree sled I usually use for picture frames. Its really a 90 degree fence (an el) turned so that each side is 45 degrees to the blade. You cut one side of the miter on the left side and the other side on the right. Any error one one side is cancelled by the other. I usually use it for picture frames because you can only cut about 3/12 inches.

[Lars Thomas]

Julie, Ed mentioned it, but I gotta stress that the opossing sides of a box must be eactly the same length. If not, all your precise set-up work will be for naught. Lars

[Lee Schierer]

I use the mothods described by others for mitered edges. FOr picture frames, I made a special mitering sled that is exactly 90 degrees betweent eh two sides.

For small boxes, a 45 degree miter bit for a table mounted router works well. It can be much faster than cutting mitered edges witha table saw.

I totally agree with cutting the pieces longer than needed. Once the angle setting is found to be correct, it is a simple matter to recut all the pieces to length. Exact duplicate opposite side lengths are critical to success.

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

Julie, I have made many small boxes, and I mostly cut my 45 degree miters using my 12" Compound Miter Saw. I have also cut the miters using my Table Saw, but I prefer the CMS because it is just simpler for me. You have received some excellent advice in the other replies as well. For the most part, if all the opposing sides are exactly the same length, you can get by just a fuzz off.............it is actually the opposing sides being the same length that makes for a good square box. But, always strive for perfect miters.........this will carry over into other larger work in the future. I am working on a box that I will be posting a photo of in the next few days......and it has Mitered corners. Good luck, and Welcome to the Creek!