Plans N O W

www.PlansNOW.com
®

Thank You!
You have successfully downloaded your woodworking technique article. This article
features the same high-quality photos, illustrations, and shop techniques that you'll find in
more than 300 downloadable plans at PlansNOW.com
Go to Page One

Find Out More

Members Get
the Best Deal
on Plans!

Plans 20 PLANS 5 PLANS All Plans

Projects, Techniques

Books 2 BOOKS 1 BOOK

Plans, Tips, & Techniques

eNewsletter 4 4 4
What's New, Techniques

Sample Center
How-to Technique Articles 4 4 4
Total Value up to $ 220 up to $ 60 20% Discount

Your Price only $2995 only $ 1995

Find Out More Find Out More Find Out More

www.Woodsmith.com Page 1 of 3 ©August Home Publishing Company

woodworking technique

table saw
Locking
Miter Joint
Create strong, tight-fitting miter joints Side Front

with nothing more than a table saw.

Miter joints are a great way to STEP ONE

seamlessly join two workpieces at a. FIRST: Raise
Fence !/4" dado
a right angle. Unfortunately, they blade to
Front height of !/4"
aren’t known for their strength.
Although you can use splines or Align blade with
face of front
biscuits to reinforce miter joints,
there’s also another method — a
locking miter joint. !/4"dado blade
As you might guess from the
name, a locking miter joint is simi- b. SECOND: Cut dado
on inside face
Waste Side
lar to a locking rabbet joint — a Fence of side
tongue on the end of one piece fits
Side
into a dado cut on the inside face Front
of the mating piece. The key dif-
ference is that the outside corner
of the joint is mitered. This way,
once the pieces are assembled the Cut Dado. With a dado blade position the rip fence as shown in
joint is hidden with no exposed installed on your table saw, use one detail ‘a’ above. Then cut a dado on
of your workpieces as a gauge to the inside face of the side.

www.Woodsmith.com Page 2 of 3 ©August Home Publishing Company

 STEP TWO
end grain (inset photo above). a. FIRST: Set !/4"
Locking miter joints have a few dado blade to
other things going for them. For height of side

one, they offer both mechanical

strength and greater gluing surface Side
c.
than splined miters.
Second, because of the way the SETUP FOR THIRD:
THIRD CUT Front Make the
pieces fit together and interlock, cut in the
b. front
you only have to clamp the joint Waste Side
Side
in one direction (as opposed to
Front
a splined miter, which requires SECOND: Position Outside
clamping in both directions). fence so blade aligns face to
with shoulder of dado fence
And lastly, you can create a lock-
ing miter joint entirely on the table
FOR saw, without any special equip- Cut Slot. Raise the dado blade to deep slot on the end of the front,
CUT ment. (For some of the steps, it’s match the thickness of the stock. creating a tongue that will fit in the
necessary to clamp a simple auxil- Then position the rip fence to cut a dado on the side.
iary fence to your rip fence.)
Locking miter joints are well STEP THREE
suited for plywood carcase con- a. FIRST: Raise
struction. And because the joint Aux. blade to bottom
has a good mechanical lock in one Fence Fence of tongue
direction, it can also be used for
drawer construction. Front
STEP-BY-STEP. The locking miter
joint is made with the six steps
shown here. One of the nice fea- Outside b. c.
tures of this joint is that after mak- face to
THIRD: Make
aux. Front
ing the first cut, your workpieces Side fence SECOND:
Aux.
the cut in
Align the side
become the gauge for setting up blade Fence
Front
the saw for the subsequent cuts. with
Waste tongue
So it’s possible to make this joint Side
without any layout tools.
The drawings will walk you
through each cut, but there are a Rabbet Side. Next, clamp an auxil- can cut a rabbet on the end of the
few fine points worth mentioning. iary fence to your rip fence so it rests side to match the thickness of the
First, in order to achieve a close- just above the saw blade. Now, you outer tongue on the front.
fitting joint, it’s important to make
sure that all your workpieces start This way, I can make sure I have an I’ll be the first one to admit that
off with square ends. exact fit before making any cuts on this is a fairly specialized joint. And
Second, I like to cut a few test my actual workpieces. it’s probably not one that you’ll use
pieces from the same material as SIZE. For the example shown, I every day. But if you’re looking for
my project in order to fine-tune cut a 1⁄4"-wide tongue and dado in a unique way to build strong,
my setups and check the fit as I go 3⁄ " plywood. But you can vary the mitered cases, it’s worth giving
4
along. And lastly, I prefer to sneak width of the tongue and dado to locking miters a try. W
up on the cuts wherever possible. suit the thickness of your stock.

STEP FOUR STEP FIVE STEP SIX

a. a. a.
Aux. Aux.
Fence Front Aux. Fence
Fence
Fourth Aux
Waste 45º cut Fence
Crosscut blade eceip ediS Front 45º Side
Side Waste Side Side
Side Waste
piece
Front piece

Front Front Front

Trim Tongue. After switching to a single Miter Front. With the blade tilted to Miter Side. Reposition the rip fence to
saw blade, trim back the tongue to fit in 45°, adjust the rip fence to miter the end miter the end of the side. This allows the

www.Woodsmith.com Page 3 of 3 ©August Home Publishing Company