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  1. #1
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    Default Biscuit-reinforced mitre joint

    I mentioned in another thread that I had given up on attempting to rout dovetails in a blackwood cabinet that I am making, and that I was going to use biscuit-reinforced mitre joinery instead. I was a bit apprehensive, since I had not tried this joint before on a large cabinet - only on boxes - but it worked a treat. Here is a picture of the glue-up of the first mitre joint. The secret was to glue the biscuits into the slots in the top first, and to let the glue cure before gluing the top to the side, and not to attempt to glue both sides to the top simultaneously. I used a clamped-on carpenter's square to ensure the joint was square, and specially made 45° clamping blocks to clamp the mitre.

    Rocker

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  3. #2
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    Interesting.......very interesting.

    Thanks Rocker.


    So I guess you'd glue one side to the top, then the other side to the bottom, then glue both parts together?

    Or can it be done another way?

  4. #3
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    Good set-up Rocker. Did you consider a locked mitre joint??

    Cheers
    Squizzy

    "It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all" {screamed by maths teacher in Year 8}

  5. #4
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    Rocker

    Not having read the other thread, just what happened when you attempted to rout dovetails before? Inquiring minds want to know!

    Looking good so far.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  6. #5
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    I have a suspicion that we do not trust modern glues enough and that a joint like the one you have used, with a good glue, will be very strong.

    As a side issue where do you purchase your biscuits and are they any good. I have a catalog from a company in NSW whch will sell them for about $42 per thousand + postage. Paying $8 for 50 at Mitre 10 is just not on. But I am not sure that all biscuits are created equal and I want to be sure that when I get a few 1000 that they are good ones.
    My age is still less than my number of posts

  7. #6
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    Derek and Vsquizz,

    The other thread was on tearout in blackwood in the Routing forum; I got such horrific tearout in the blackwood, when attempting to rout the dovetails with my Leigh jig, that I gave up on the idea of dovetail joinery for this cabinet. Major pointed out how I went wrong - I should have used a thicker backing board, and glued-on sacrificial strips on the edges - but even so, I think that blackwood is not as well suited to routed dovetails as more forgiving woods like American cherry and walnut.

    I shudder to think what the tearout would be like using a lock-mitre bit on blackwood - I don't think it would be a pretty sight. I think lock-mitre bits are best suited for joining softwoods and MDF, and anyway I don't own one.

    Chook,

    I used Timbecon's urea-formaldehyde glue for the joint, and it feels rock solid.
    I have to confess that I waste money buying biscuits from Bunnies, since I don't use that many of them. I think the American-made biscuits are probably a bit stronger, since they seem to be made out of hardwood, rather than softwood, as the local ones are, but unless you are using biscuits in places where you really should be using a M&T joint, I don't think this matters.

    Rocker

  8. #7
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    I have now glued on the second side of the cabinet, and am very happy with how it has turned out. This seems to be a very viable method of cabinet joinery. It is very quick and easy to cut the mitres if you have a suitable crosscut sled and table saw, and it is also easy to cut accurately matching biscuit slots in the faces of the mitres, if you have a biscuit joiner such as the Porter-Cable, whose fence can be locked at 135°.

    I got the idea of using biscuit-reinforced mitre joinery for this chest from an article by Christian Becksvoort in FW #68, reprinted in Traditional Furniture Projects (Taunton). He suggests splined mitres as a possible joinery method for chests. The article was written in 1988, before biscuit joiners were in wide use. But using biscuit joinery is obviously a lot easier and probably stronger than a splined mitre joint.

    Rocker

  9. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rocker
    I have now glued on the second side of the cabinet,
    So you now have a base and two sides?

    If this is true, will you be able to attach the top considering the angled joinery?

  10. #9
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    Ben,

    Read my post #1 again; the picture attached to that post shows the top attached to one side. I have now attached the other side to the top. There is a stretcher board dowelled to the base of the sides at the back holding the sides square. I am now making web frames to fit into the dadoes in the sides. There is no bottom as such.

    Rocker

  11. #10
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    oh.




  12. #11
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    Was watching a WW show on the "how to" channel over the weekend - english I think - but more importantly was the fact that he was making a frame to contain a mirror on a wall cabinet. He mitred all the joints and glued them using a square and a belt clamp. He then cut a contrasting timber and used it to spline the joints. If you want more detail I'll try and find the detail of the show but it made a splendid feature of the frame and the strength would be great
    Perhaps it is better to be irresponsible and right, than to be responsible and wrong.
    Winston Churchill

  13. #12
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    Barnesy,

    My computer has been down for three days whilst I got XP installed; so I have not been able to reply to your post. The type of splines that you are referring to, for reinforcing mitre joints for a mirror frame are keys which run perpendicular to the joint face between the mitres, but parallel to the face of the frame. The splines that Becksvoort was advocating for reinforcing the mitre joint between the sides and top of a mitre-joined cabinet go in kerfs cut in the faces of the mitres parallel to their sharp edges, and thus show in the front edges of the cabinet. They would need to be cut with the saw blade at 45° using a crosscut sled, with the panel to the right of the blade. It is far easier to use biscuits than to cut the kerf for these splines, so long as you have a biscuit joiner such as the Porter Cable, whose fence can be angled at 135°.

    Rocker

  14. #13
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    Default Web frames installed

    Here is the cabinet with the web frames installed.

    Rocker

  15. #14
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    Rocker,

    I would have thought if you use a sash clamp (like a truckies ribbon tie down... you know the seat belt looking thingys) you should be able to do the whole thing at once rather than half a joint at a time.
    I did this on my workbench and it worked very well - mind you I didnt use bisquits for the joints.

    I've posted photo's here if you're interested ;

    http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...t=12779&page=2

    cheers
    Zed

  16. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rocker
    Barnesy,

    My computer has been down for three days whilst I got XP installed; so I have not been able to reply to your post. The type of splines that you are referring to, for reinforcing mitre joints for a mirror frame are keys which run perpendicular to the joint face between the mitres, but parallel to the face of the frame. The splines that Becksvoort was advocating for reinforcing the mitre joint between the sides and top of a mitre-joined cabinet go in kerfs cut in the faces of the mitres parallel to their sharp edges, and thus show in the front edges of the cabinet. They would need to be cut with the saw blade at 45° using a crosscut sled, with the panel to the right of the blade. It is far easier to use biscuits than to cut the kerf for these splines, so long as you have a biscuit joiner such as the Porter Cable, whose fence can be angled at 135°.

    Rocker
    Another thing that looks great with a mitre join is dovetail keys in a contrasting timber.
    Regards, Bob Thomas

    www.wombatsawmill.com

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