cutting carcase mitres

[madge]

Hi all, I'm making a cabinet and need to produce a mitre running the width of a 300mm board (i.e along the end grain). I don't have a table saw at my disposal so how do I get the mitre as accurate as possible using handtools? Is there a suitable jig?

 

[thick_mike]

I would imagine you need some sort of shooting board...and a very sharp plane...and some filler!

I guess you saw close to the line, then tidy up with a plane...sounds like a very tough job with hand tools.

Good luck!

 

[RogerP]

Is this the sort of thing you are looking for? I've had one for years and once "tuned" for accuracy they are brilliant.

http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/wwmitreshootingboard.html

 

[marcros]

Rogers post showed what I would have thought most suitable.

 

[custard]

That's a tricky one. Shooting boards can be accurate...but they're not a silver bullet solution, requiring a fair bit of tuning to get right and constant attention to technique. Furthermore, they tend to be at their best with relatively small pieces that would be dangerous to run across power saws, the bigger the workpiece the more it or the plane tends to "drift" during the shooting board cut.

An alternative might be a "paring block", but you'd have the problem of producing it accurately, still you'd only have to make one and then it's good for lots of subsequent mitres. At the workshops where I trained paring blocks were often used to produce long housing joints with angled walls, and I've experienced just how accurate and clean they can be.

You'd need a straight grained, quarter sawn, dry block of timber about 400mm long (leaving some overhang for easier clamping), 50-75mm thick, and about 100mm wide. Plane one edge at precisely 45 degrees and secure it widthways across your workpiece. Line it up with a knife line or fine pencil line. The workpiece should be roughly finished at approximately 45 degrees, so you're just taking fine parings with the back of the chisel firmly held against the 45 degree slope on the paring block.

 

[Mr T]

Hi

Perhaps the solution might be to think laterally. Why are you using a mitre? Would some sort of corner lap may be less work? They can also look good if you chamfer the edges. They also make for a more accurate carcase if this was required, say for fitting drawers. Someone working in my workshop is using them on a dresser at the moment, I'll get a picture and post it tomorrow.

Chis

 

[MMUK]

Dovetails would be my choice

 

[RogerP]

Several years ago I built the jig in the link I gave. I have used it many times to cut mitres on boards as wide as 40cm. My method, after the initial timber preparation, is to cut rough mitres using the bandsaw then shoot and trim to correct size with the jig. The result is perfect mitres very quickly. No more than half-an-hour from board to box carcass ready for glue-up.

 

[sawdust1]

have you a router, done it this way lots of times with a large 45 degree cutter and a clamped fence.

 

[madge]

Thanks for all the replies, I think since I have the weekend free I'll have a go at both the shooting board and paring guide and see which works best for me. The possibility of using a router also sounds interesting if I can get a cutter reasonably cheap.