Mitered Half Lap Here’S a Straightforward Table Saw Technique for Super-Strong Miter Joints

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Mitered Half Lap Here’s a straightforward table saw technique for super-strong miter joints.

Tight-fi tting miter joints are a hall- are the joint lines and square able. For example, on a door, the mark of great craftsmanship. The shoulders you’d find in a half sides are usually the most visible. trouble is even the most fl awless lap. What this gives you is extra, That means I’d make the joint so miter isn’t a very strong joint to long-grain glue surface. This re- the lapped edges are on the top use — especially in a door. inforcement makes the joint the and bottom. When it comes down to it, a perfect candidate for small cabi- GETTING READY. There are just a cou- miter joint isn’t really much more net doors and frames. ple of other things to talk about than a butt joint. The good news is, THE RIGHT ORIENTATION. As you’ll before getting started. The fi rst is You can see how to cut a mitered half lap there’s a “hybrid” joint that com- see, cutting this joint on the table that it’s a good idea to have a few on the table saw at: bines the look of a miter with the saw isn’t diffi cult. But there is one test pieces on hand. These will www.woodsmith.com strength of a half-lap joint. thing to think about before you come in handy for setting up the HOW IT WORKS. You can see how use it — the orientation. Two op- saw for each step in the process. this joint fi ts together in posite sides of the frame have Second, the key to cutting an the drawings above. clear edges that look clean (inset accurate joint is the simple sled SQUARE-END The front face looks above). The other edges show the shown in the box on the next page. PIECE like an ordinary end grain of the crossing piece. So The sled rides along the rip fence miter. On the other what I like to do is orient the parts and has a pair of fences to guide side of the frame so that these edges are least notice- the workpieces across the blade.

a. 1 2

Angled Kerf. The ﬁ rst step is to cut a kerf along the cen- Trimming the Ear. Remove the thin “ear” from the ter line of the workpiece. Use the rear fence to cut one workpiece by cutting along the end of the kerf. A stop end and the front fence to cut the other end. block keeps the workpiece from creeping.

From Woodsmith magazine page 1 of 2 ©2006 August Home Publishing Company www.Woodsmith.com All rights reserved CUTTING THE JOINT MITERED-END 3 As you cut the joint, what PIECE you’re really doing is making two sets of parts — a square-end set and a mitered-end set. a. SQUARE-END PIECES. I like to start by making the square-end parts. The reason is in Fig. 2 on page 1. The important they’re the simplest of the two to make thing to think about here is to make — they require only two steps, as you sure you’re cutting on the correct side can see in the drawings on page 1. of the workpiece. ANGLED KERF. There are only two MITERED PIECES. After completing all things to keep in mind here. The the cuts on the square-end parts, you Vertical Cut. Using the same sled posi- fi rst is the height of the saw blade. It can get to work on the mitered-end tion as before, rotate the rear stop so that should match the height of the corner pieces. For these parts, it’ll take three it’s vertical to cut a straight kerf. of the workpiece (Fig. 1a). steps to get the job done. Like the The second thing is the rip fence other half of the joint, the fi rst step is 4 position. The distance from the sled to make a kerf in each end using the side to the blade should be exactly sled. But instead of the workpiece be- half the thickness of your stock, as in ing angled, it’s held vertically, as in Fig. 1b. Here’s where you’ll put your Fig. 3 above. test pieces to use. From there, you can take the sled Once you have everything set, you off the saw and use the miter gauge can cut a kerf in one end of each piece to make the remaining two cuts. A using the rear fence. Making the kerf look at Fig. 4 shows how to make the in the opposite end is simply a matter fi rst cut with the miter gauge square of repeating this step with the work- to the blade. piece held against the front fence. MITER THE ENDS. The fi nal step is to fl ip Trimming the End. With the miter gauge (Be sure to keep the same face of the the piece over and miter the ends, square to the blade, cut away the waste workpiece against the side of sled as illustrated in Fig 5. Set the mi- to create a half lap on each end. during each cut.) ter gauge to 45° and miter one end Before going on to the second (and of each part. Then rotate the miter 5 last) step in making the square-end gauge over to the other 45° setting to parts, I want to point out one thing. cut the remaining ends. Like before, While you have everything set up, if you have a lot of parts to make, a now is a good time to make the sled stop block will come in pretty handy. cuts on the mitered parts, as in Fig. 3. ASSEMBLY. Once all the parts are cut, This will save you some hassle trying you’re ready for assembly. And here’s to get the saw and sled reset later on. where you’ll discover another benefi t TRIM CUT. Like I said, there’s just of the joint. The square shoulders on one step left to fi nish the square-end the mitered pieces allow you to tight- pieces. And that’s to cut away the en a clamp across the joint for a snug, thin “ear.” You can see how I do this gap-free fi t. W Miter Ends. The last step is to miter each end of the workpiece. Once again, sneak up on the cut for a perfect fi t. How-To: Make the Sled

Since half of the cuts are made with the The front fence is ﬁ xed at 45° and is used workpiece held on end, I needed a way to only for cutting the square-end pieces. The hold it securely and at the correct angle. rear fence pivots between two positions So I came up with the simple sled you see — 45° and 90°. To provide enough clear- in the drawing at left. ance to pivot, the rear fence is trimmed The sled is designed to ride along the rip short of the sled bottom. fence of the table saw. The tall fence keeps There’s one other thing that I should the workpiece from tipping while it’s be- mention. When building the sled, be sure ing cut. Then to hold the workpiece at to locate the screws so they won’t come in the correct angle, I added a pair of fences. contact with the saw blade.