04-16-2016, 03:05 PM
You might have read my recent post about building a shooting board. Today's entry is about using it to make a small mitered frame I needed for a new project. The stock is red oak, 3/4" thick by 2-1/4" wide and I needed to make a frame about 17" x 14".
I started by cutting one end of the four parts at 45° on my CMS and trimmed those ends on the shooting board. Then I pencil marked the final length of one long and one short part. I put the already mitered ends of the long parts against a stop and then knife marked both parts where I had put the pencil mark. I did the same on the two short parts. So, if I cut and shoot those ends to their knifed lines the frame should come out square and the corners tight.
I cut the knifed ends to about 1/32" over with the CMS. Here's what the fit looks like. The horizontal piece is already mitered and shot perfect, the vertical piece is off the CMS. The corner actually was square but the piece off the CMS wasn't square vertically along the cut edge, probably because of blade flex as I trimmed it closer to the mark. In any case, it didn't fit right.
Here's what it looked like after I trimmed the vertical piece on the shooting board. Nice.
I did the same thing with the other 3 pieces, always shooting to the knife mark. Here I've aligned the two pairs of parts and, as you can see, they are exactly the same length.
I test fit the parts and they aligned perfectly, so I cut mortises for loose tenons in each corner using my horizontal router mortiser. If you aren't familiar with my machine take a look here. Hand work is great, but this machine takes the drudgery (and inaccuracy) out of all kinds of joinery tasks.
I cut the loose tenons to length and put the frame together dry.
That looked good so I glued it up. After a couple of hours I removed the clamps, planed the edges and sanded the face. And here it is.
What a pleasure to be able to fit a mitered frame together w/o having to repeatedly trim, fuss, and cuss at it and myself. If you've been thinking about making a shooting board - buy a plane with the sides ground square to the sole and just do it!
John
I started by cutting one end of the four parts at 45° on my CMS and trimmed those ends on the shooting board. Then I pencil marked the final length of one long and one short part. I put the already mitered ends of the long parts against a stop and then knife marked both parts where I had put the pencil mark. I did the same on the two short parts. So, if I cut and shoot those ends to their knifed lines the frame should come out square and the corners tight.
I cut the knifed ends to about 1/32" over with the CMS. Here's what the fit looks like. The horizontal piece is already mitered and shot perfect, the vertical piece is off the CMS. The corner actually was square but the piece off the CMS wasn't square vertically along the cut edge, probably because of blade flex as I trimmed it closer to the mark. In any case, it didn't fit right.
Here's what it looked like after I trimmed the vertical piece on the shooting board. Nice.
I did the same thing with the other 3 pieces, always shooting to the knife mark. Here I've aligned the two pairs of parts and, as you can see, they are exactly the same length.
I test fit the parts and they aligned perfectly, so I cut mortises for loose tenons in each corner using my horizontal router mortiser. If you aren't familiar with my machine take a look here. Hand work is great, but this machine takes the drudgery (and inaccuracy) out of all kinds of joinery tasks.
I cut the loose tenons to length and put the frame together dry.
That looked good so I glued it up. After a couple of hours I removed the clamps, planed the edges and sanded the face. And here it is.
What a pleasure to be able to fit a mitered frame together w/o having to repeatedly trim, fuss, and cuss at it and myself. If you've been thinking about making a shooting board - buy a plane with the sides ground square to the sole and just do it!
John
Kudos to you.
