different splined miter joint?

[jbmaine]

Hi all,
 The other day I saw a video of a guy doing a different type of spline on a box with mitered corners. I can't find it ( should have saved it dummy).

Anyway he used a square bit in a RT. He ran each board flat on the table, miter side down with the point against the fence. He cut half of a square on each 45 surface.

when he was done each corner had an internal square that he put a square spline in.

It seems like this would be a simple way to add strength to a miter joint and make alignment easy.

Has anyone seen or tried this? is there a downside I'm not seeing?

Sorry, I'm not good with graphics or I'd have sketched this out to show you. Hope you understand what I'm trying to say.

                                  Thanks
                                           Jim

[Steve N]

About as close as I can get for the description you gave.

There is no "square" router bit, what he used no doubt was a straight cut bit, and used the fence/jig to hold the correct placement. Height of the bit controls your depth of cut.




You could also use a DT bit to get either of the looks below.





Made from plywood, or bought the jigs are usually a v to hold the shape of the corner.

[jbmaine]

Yes it was a straight cut bit. no jig. When assembled you could see the square key from the top looking down. but it was not visible from the sides.
      
I'll have to see if I can make one this weekend and post pics.

                                Jim

[jteneyck]

If you draw what you described it won't work unless one piece is held on end vertically against the fence.  It's really easy to cut miter splice slots on your TS with the blade tilted at 45°.  In that case, both pieces are held flat on the table with the end of the miter against the fence (or sacrificial fence). 

John

[builderbru]

Charles Neil did that joint on his bombe box video. That joint works good for small miters, just need to be back towards the meatier part of the joint so you can drive the spline down without fear of splitting the wood. I can't post a picture, it is saying it is to big but this should help

[ez-duzit]

Much stronger and very simple to do is a slip feather. The grain runs at 90* to the miter.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

[builderbru]

Not my picture but I think this is what you are talking about?

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Not my picture but I think this is what you are talking about?

I use that joint all the time if I am using thin wood to make a box. Makes for a strong joint and also keeps the corner from cupping. With thin wood this is always a problem.


No downside. Just need to be careful with the depth weather you use a router or a tablesaw.

[Dan Moening]

While I agree that any of the above methods would be the more correct solution, it is not what the OP is looking for.

Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OI76BWKYN4

Skip to approx. 1:45 to see the Square key.