Pachuco Posted December 2, 2011 Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 Hey guys, I want to make a serving tray for my wife for Christmas. I'm envisioning the corners joined by box joints but I want them to be on an angle. There is lots of stuff on how to make a jig for the table saw that can cut this joint. The problem is they rely on a dado blade and unfortunately I don't have one, in addition to this I couldn't even put one on my job site saw if I wanted to. So all I have is the router table method. There are lots of instructions on how to make a jig for a router table but none that I could find that would do it on an angle. The table saw method requires you to tilt the blade so I have no idea how else do this. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmac Posted December 2, 2011 Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 If you can figure out how to lay out the joints, consider doing it with hand tools. The same methods (using saws and chisels) that people use to make hand-cut dovetails should work just as well for box joints of all sorts. -- Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted December 2, 2011 Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 OK, how steep of an angle and how big a tray? I presume this is a frame with a trapped panel of some kind. Could you make the four frame sides with very beefy stock assembled using straight box joints (8/4 or so) and then bevel the sides afterwards? Agreed that hand tools would be the proper choice here. I can dimly sort of visualize the sort of router jiggery that would be required to do it with a machine. But it'd take from now until Christmas just to make the jigs alone, to say nothing of how much wood you'd burn through getting the setup right. For a one-off Christmas present, time to be a Neanderthal. Last suggestion: Ditch the box joints and go with splined miters. They're just as strong, they look almost the same, and you'll be done so much faster that you have enough time to jazz things up with an inlay. Witness. This is a low profile tray (7/8" thick sides, IIRC) with only one spline per joint. Then the frame was ebonized so you don't see anything anyway. But the same concept would work with a tray that has higher or angled sides. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pachuco Posted December 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 You know. Screw the compound box joints. You guys have encouraged me to think this through more. Now I'm thinking I'm going to make compound dovetails by hand. That would look awesome. never done compound one's so time to do some research on how to lay them out. Anyone have any tips? Rob this will be my first time working with veneering and marquetry as well so you are right, I'll need the extra time. I plan making the base out of plywood or MDF and veneering Mahogany on the top and bottom. I then want to make my own banding strip with a herringbone pattern to inlay into the base as well as a Fleur-de-lis right in the center. Lots of new stuff for me to learn on this project. Should be fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmac Posted December 2, 2011 Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 Lots of new stuff for me to learn on this project. Should be fun! And only 23 days until Christmas! -- Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.