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This is the last part of
making this unique joint — the cutting of the sliding dovetails in the sides for the
crossbrace.
I have set my cut piece that now has dovetails so that it rests on the sides
exactly as it will when completed. It is not on the exact diagonal marks I had made
earlier, and that is alright.
I now mark the center point of the tail itself.
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The router height stays
the same as when cutting the tails. I have lowered the table so that it is at 0o.
I am carefully aligning the center mark I just made with that dimple in the center of the
router bit. I am using the miter gauge as before.
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With the board aligned to the cutter, I place the magnetic hold-down so that
it just touches the board. I will use that for positioning the other boards so that all of
the crossfeeds are alike.
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This is how I made
the cut. The large furniture clamp is great for fixing the board to the miter gauge so
that it is rock steady and doesn't shift. My hand is on the pushblock which keeps the
board flat on the table.
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I am almost done. I
am dry fitting the corner to see that it is perfectly square. I do not want a crossbrace
that pulls the corner out of square. Also notice that I am using two 1 x2's. That is
mainly because of the stock I had close at hand for this sample. I may make it "my
standard" though. It looks good and has plenty of strength as a crossbrace.
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Assembling is easy. I
will glue and join the sides to the legs. The dovetails have a lot of good gluing surface
so I brush the yellow glue into all the nooks and crannies.
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I use two K-body clamps to
secure the sides to the leg. The double plastic squares allow me to check for square
around the post.
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The clamps are off and I
have installed the crossbraces being careful to not pull the joint out of square. They
should fit in easily. For this sample, I do not have any additional clamping at this
point. When I do the four corners of the harvest table, I will probably use long clamps
and/or a band clamp.
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If it looks like I am
grimacing, it is because I am trying to put muscle into the testing of the joint. It is
about as solid as you can get.
When I started, I said that this locking miter joint is one that can only be
done on the tilting router table. That is true unless you created quite a jig to cut the
tails on the crossbrace.
With the RouterShop by Hawk I used the table at 45o and at 90o
— and at 0o. It isn't often that you would have to make use of the tilting
table — but it sure is nice to be able to do so when you need to — and with
ease, accuracy, and repeatability.
I am looking forward to the making of the harvest table. This is definitely
the corner method for that.
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