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21K views 18 replies 6 participants last post by  HappyHowie 
#1 ·
Mitered Half-Lap Joints

I decided on a Christmas gift for my friend Bill. I will enlarge and print a photograph of Bill with his parents. They are clearly a big influence on his life. His parents are now 95 and 91 years old. His siblings all seem to be profoundly successful in their respective fields. I believe making this print and framing it into nice picture frames would be a good Christmas gift for him.

I want the frame to be strong and for it to complement the photograph. I studied several articles on making mitered half-lap joints. I was familiar with Tommy Mac's Rough Cut show of making a bookstand. He made a special jig in order to cut his mitered half-laps on his table saw. It was a bit involved, the jig. He did not show how he made it. However, I have searched the Internet to find other ways to cut the strong joints.

I found a simple process on Woodworker's Journa. I will be making its jig to use with my table saw's miter gauge. The jig is a simple L-shaped fence with a 1/4" MDF plate to hold the frame.

I begin cutting and gluing this jig. I used only glue since a DADO set will be cutting through this jig in order to make the mitered half-lap cuts on the picture frame parts.

Wood Flooring Floor Hardwood Gas


Wood Handheld power drill Drill Floor Tool


Table Wheel Wood Desk Floor


The next steps will be to screw this jig to my miter gauge.
 

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#2 ·
Test Cuts with Pine Scraps

Before making the actual picture frame for my friend Bill, I decided to make the JIG and perform some tests cutting mitered half-lap joints.

I had some pine 1 by 6 by 72 inches boards in my lumber racks. I jointed one edge flat and square to a surface. From that I ripped a width about 2 1/2 inches wide. There was enough tension in the board that it moved immediately. I decided to crosscut the six foot lengths into lengths that would give me a picture frame that would fit a 11 by 14 matted photograph. I cut two pieces 20 inches long and two others 16 inches. From these lengths I jointed a surface flat and then edge jointed and edge flat and 90 degrees square to the flat surface. Then I ran the pieces through my planer. I stickered the milled parts and let it acclimate over night.

I used double side tape to apply 60 grit sandpaper to the L-fence JIG. Afterwards I fixed the JIG to my table saw's miter gauge. I decided to use my DADO set. I configured the DADO set to just less that 1/2 inch width cuts.

Wood Table Naval architecture Floor Flooring


Using the Woodworker's Journal article as my guide, I drew the layout of miter half-laps for the test pieces and also a picture frame parts from the pine lumber I milled the day before.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Art Hardwood


I began by first cutting what I labeled B parts that were the mitered pieces. I cut those parts first and used my INCRA miter gauge for this process. In the photo below the B part with the mitered ends are shown on the top-side in the image.

Wood Textile Rectangle Beige Flooring


I took a scrap pieces of pine and cut it in half. It was milled through my planer so it's thickness was the same as the picture frame parts. with these two parts I began taking cuts to by raising my DADO blade until I had a perfect half-lap fitting. Once I had the blade height setting, I then used my jig to make the half-lap cuts to join each of the picture frame parts.

Wood Ingredient Rectangle Cuisine Recipe


I will used a hand chisel to clean up the half-lap cuts so these miter ends fit snugly. The picture frames has turned out quite well straight from my table saw cuts.
 

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#3 ·
Test Cuts with Pine Scraps

Before making the actual picture frame for my friend Bill, I decided to make the JIG and perform some tests cutting mitered half-lap joints.

I had some pine 1 by 6 by 72 inches boards in my lumber racks. I jointed one edge flat and square to a surface. From that I ripped a width about 2 1/2 inches wide. There was enough tension in the board that it moved immediately. I decided to crosscut the six foot lengths into lengths that would give me a picture frame that would fit a 11 by 14 matted photograph. I cut two pieces 20 inches long and two others 16 inches. From these lengths I jointed a surface flat and then edge jointed and edge flat and 90 degrees square to the flat surface. Then I ran the pieces through my planer. I stickered the milled parts and let it acclimate over night.

I used double side tape to apply 60 grit sandpaper to the L-fence JIG. Afterwards I fixed the JIG to my table saw's miter gauge. I decided to use my DADO set. I configured the DADO set to just less that 1/2 inch width cuts.

Wood Table Naval architecture Floor Flooring


Using the Woodworker's Journal article as my guide, I drew the layout of miter half-laps for the test pieces and also a picture frame parts from the pine lumber I milled the day before.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Art Hardwood


I began by first cutting what I labeled B parts that were the mitered pieces. I cut those parts first and used my INCRA miter gauge for this process. In the photo below the B part with the mitered ends are shown on the top-side in the image.

Wood Textile Rectangle Beige Flooring


I took a scrap pieces of pine and cut it in half. It was milled through my planer so it's thickness was the same as the picture frame parts. with these two parts I began taking cuts to by raising my DADO blade until I had a perfect half-lap fitting. Once I had the blade height setting, I then used my jig to make the half-lap cuts to join each of the picture frame parts.

Wood Ingredient Rectangle Cuisine Recipe


I will used a hand chisel to clean up the half-lap cuts so these miter ends fit snugly. The picture frames has turned out quite well straight from my table saw cuts.
Very nice. I just finished a similar frame and I wish I had used the half=lap technique.
 

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#5 ·
Miter Half-lap Joints Cut In Cherry Hardwood

These miter half-lap cuts for this picture frame are straight off my table saw. I used a 1 by 4 by 84 inch American Black Cherry board that I jointed one edge straight and then made the other edge parallel to it by ripping the board on my table saw. I ripped this board to 2 1/4 inches wide. It is close to 3/4 inches thick.
Ruler Office ruler Wood Tool Rectangle


I will either apply several coats of Danish Oil or Boiled Linseed Oil that will pop the nice grain on this cherry hardwood. It will darken the wood and make the grain standout.
Wood Flooring Floor Gas Hardwood


Wood Bumper Naval architecture Auto part Automotive exterior


I know there is some hand chisel work to do yet to get these mitered corner fitted correctly, if not perfectly. The gaps will close with a bit more work.
Brown Rectangle Wood Plant Hardwood


The miter half-lap joint is a very strong joint for a picture frame. A simple miter joint is inherently weak. Some ways to strengthen a miter joint is to place a spline or a biscuit inside the joint or even to cut a saw kerf on the outside edges of the corners and then fit a spline piece of hardwood into the saw kerf.
Rectangle Wood Door Flooring Plant


I have taken an entirely different approach with this miter half-lap joint. I used the table saw and jig method shown in the following link from Woodworkers Journal Magazine.

http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/build-stronger-frames-half-lap-miter-joints/

Besides some hand chisel work to fit these corners more perfectly, I will also route a 1/4 inch deep and a 5/16 inch wide rabbet on the inside back edges of this frame. Into that rabbet I will place the 11 by 14 inch photo mat. I already have the 8 by 10 photo enlargement printed and ready to go when this frame is finished.

This will be a Christmas gift for a close friend. When I learned he was going to take his parents who are 95 and 91 years old to a Colorado Rockies game, I asked him to take photo of him with his parents. I know how close is with them. I figured this would be a great and worthwhile gift this year for my good friend.
 

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#6 ·
Routed Rabbets and Hand Chisel Work

I setup my router table and placed a rabbet bit for 5/16 inch width and depth. Any deeper and I would have been routing into the half-lap area in the frame. I did make my table or fence for a start and stop point. However, I discovered too late to reroute this start and stop points. I decided to fix this issue with my hand chisels. It was good practice anyway.

Wood Wood stain Rectangle Hardwood Flooring


I double checked th rabbet with a 11 by 14 matt that I will use with the 8 by 10 photo. It works.

Brown Picture frame Rectangle Wood Hardwood
 

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#7 ·
Routed Rabbets and Hand Chisel Work

I setup my router table and placed a rabbet bit for 5/16 inch width and depth. Any deeper and I would have been routing into the half-lap area in the frame. I did make my table or fence for a start and stop point. However, I discovered too late to reroute this start and stop points. I decided to fix this issue with my hand chisels. It was good practice anyway.

Wood Wood stain Rectangle Hardwood Flooring


I double checked th rabbet with a 11 by 14 matt that I will use with the 8 by 10 photo. It works.

Brown Picture frame Rectangle Wood Hardwood
 

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#9 ·
Glue and Clamp Up

I rehearsed my clamping strategy. I am glad I did. I worked out what I think was the best way with my clamps to get this miter half-lap picture frame to close up at the miter joints.
Wood Engineering Machine Composite material Hardwood


I will have some hand planing to do in order to get the front surfaces smooth and flat wit regards to the four parts. Now that it is glued together that work should be fairly easy to do.

I did bring in the clamped picture frame into my house. Snow is about ready to fall outside. I wanted this frame inside with its fresh glue to be warm.
 

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#10 ·
Glue and Clamp Up

I rehearsed my clamping strategy. I am glad I did. I worked out what I think was the best way with my clamps to get this miter half-lap picture frame to close up at the miter joints.
Wood Engineering Machine Composite material Hardwood


I will have some hand planing to do in order to get the front surfaces smooth and flat wit regards to the four parts. Now that it is glued together that work should be fairly easy to do.

I did bring in the clamped picture frame into my house. Snow is about ready to fall outside. I wanted this frame inside with its fresh glue to be warm.
 

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#11 ·
Plane and Sanded Surfaces on this Picture Frame

I worked on my picture frame today by first removing the clamps. I then found a way to hold the frame on my workbench in order to begin using my #4 hand plane to smooth the front and back surfaces. Once I finished this process, I clamped the frame in my workbench vise and clamped the back end of the frame with a foot long clamp so the frame was held to the workbench. This way I could plane smooth the end grain to the miter half-lap joints.
Plane Smoothing plane Table Jack plane Wood


After this I used my orbit sander to sand smooth the surfaces by going through the grits of 80, 120, 150, 220, and lastly 320.
Wood Tradesman Tool Composite material Hardwood


I should have used wood filler in the small cracks before sanding this frame, but I did not think of that until I was ready to apply some sanding sealer. So I postponed the sanding sealer application since I used my cherry wood filler to fill these cracks.
Table Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain


Tomorrow I will resand the frame and then apply a coat of sanding sealer before applying a coat of finish.
Table Wood Rectangle Wood stain Flooring
 

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#12 ·
Plane and Sanded Surfaces on this Picture Frame

I worked on my picture frame today by first removing the clamps. I then found a way to hold the frame on my workbench in order to begin using my #4 hand plane to smooth the front and back surfaces. Once I finished this process, I clamped the frame in my workbench vise and clamped the back end of the frame with a foot long clamp so the frame was held to the workbench. This way I could plane smooth the end grain to the miter half-lap joints.
Plane Smoothing plane Table Jack plane Wood


After this I used my orbit sander to sand smooth the surfaces by going through the grits of 80, 120, 150, 220, and lastly 320.
Wood Tradesman Tool Composite material Hardwood


I should have used wood filler in the small cracks before sanding this frame, but I did not think of that until I was ready to apply some sanding sealer. So I postponed the sanding sealer application since I used my cherry wood filler to fill these cracks.
Table Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain


Tomorrow I will resand the frame and then apply a coat of sanding sealer before applying a coat of finish.
Table Wood Rectangle Wood stain Flooring
Hey Howie, love the frame! Have you tried adding glue into a joint, then sanding over it while it's wet? This creates perfectly matching filler very easily.
 

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#19 ·
Finished the Assembly of this Picture Frame

This picture frame has been a lot of work. There have been so many issues to work through. I may not build another picture frame for a long, long time. However, I am glad to have done it because it is a gift for a great friend. Knowing that he was taking his 95 and 91 father and mother to a Rockies baseball game, I asked him to take a photo of them with himself. Send me the file. I will enlarge it and frame it. It will be my Christmas gift to you.

Here I am fastening the hardware to the frame's back; including the D rings and the hanging wire.
Wood Rectangle Red Flooring Hardwood


This shows the matted photograph in the frame.
Photograph Picture frame Rectangle Wood Red
 

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