NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1983, No. 43, $3.50 Making ... - Wood Tools

Miters, tape and glue
I use ordinary masking tape to clamp up
a bookmatched panel for the lid or bottOm
of one of my little boxes. To glue
up a box's mitered corners, I supplement
the tape with rubber bands.
Before gluing up a matched panel,
sand, plane or joint the good side of
both pieces so that you can see the final
figure. Then hold the pieces tOgether in
front of a window or a bright light, to
make sure the gluing surfaces meet exactly.
If they don't, plane them until no
light shows through anywhere. You
don't have to fret about square edges if
you fold the bookmatch good-side-in,
clamp the pair of boards in the vise and
plane both edges at the same time. If
you machine-joint, you'll get the cleanest
glueline by skimming off the mill
marks with a pass of the hand plane.
Both pieces of wood ought to end up
the same thickness,
tape
but if at this stage
they aren't, you'll have to take care that
the good side glues up flat, with the irregularities
on the back side only. To do
so, lay the pieces on the bench goodside-up,
and line up the figure. Run a
piece of masking across the joint line
to keep the figure from shifting. Next,
lightly apply a strip of tape along the
full length of the joint and flip the as-
34
Fig. A: Miter-gauge shim
Notch lets
'A-in . plastic
shim work as
push stick. �
' Push to align
miter gauge
against saw
table 's edge . .
Fig . . C: Ta ping the mite..rs
Fig. D: Jig for tablesawing cross-spline slots
sembly over. From the back, press along
the joint to stick the tape down firmly.
Bend the joint open and apply glue.
Yellow Titebond, as it comes from the
jug, is formulated for filling gaps and
thus is thicker than it needs to be for
long-grain gluing. If your joint is lighttight,
such a thick glue will leave a visible
glueline. If you thin a tablespoonful
of the glue by adding a few drops of
water, it will hold better, and the joint
will be invisible. To clamp the joint, run
a short piece of tape opposite the first
one, then similarly tape every 2 in. or so
across the joint, taking care to balance
the tension on both sides of the panel as
you go, else it will curl. You should not
need ro weight the panel flat.
Miters for box sides are best cut with
the wood flat on the saw table, with the
blade tilted to 450 and the gauge set at
900 to the blade. I used to set the miter
gauge with the aid of a carpenters'
square, but a reader, Dustin Davis of
Frostburg, Md., sent in a simple device
(figure A) that makes the
-
job much
easier. It's a shim of X-in. plastic that
allows you to register the face of the
miter gauge against the front edge of
the saw table, which on most saws is accurately
machined at 900 to the slots in
o 2. 1. Fig. B: Checking 45° angles
Miter-crosscut.
Recut offcu� piece.
,-..: : __.'
4. Adjust cut. until miters fit straight. �-