Mitered Corner Box Glue Up?

I like the tape method, has worked great for me. I think there is a blog on the site about it.

-- Alex

I find a strap clamp works well for me, although there are some corner clamping systems out there I have not tried yet.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

I make a lot of jewelry boxes with mitered corners. If you are talking about boxes the size of jewelry boxes, I would recommend trying the rubber band method. You can purchase rubberbands make especiallly for this type of clamping at Rockler.

-- Tutchsky

I like the tape method. Doug Stowe’s DVD is excellent on this.
It is easy to do… and Stowe recommends that you use good quality packing tape and not the cheap stuff.

-- Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

I like the strap clamp method, myself. I’ve used it on regular four sided boxes and the six sided casket shaped boxes and it seems to work very well for both. I’ll be trying it on an eight sided box in the near future.

-- Cheers and God Bless

Outstanding! Thanks for the feedback everyone. I never seen the strap clamp set up. That is definitely something I’m going to check into.

Thanks for the helpful info yall.

-- Dan ~ Texarkana, Tx.

http://www.veritastools.com/Products/Page.aspx?p=135

This is a 4-way speed clamp from veritas. It’s great for clamping miter joints

-- Gary, DeKalb Texas only 4 miles from the mill

If this is a small sided box you can use a jig similiar to the one I made to use on picture frames.
http://www.blackanddecker.com/ProjectCenter/ProjectDetail.aspx?DOCID=p336139371394514017.html
There are some better plans of this on the internet and you can use a threaded rod thru the center with wing nuts to tighten it together instead of a clamp.

If the box has much larger sides I would suggest using the strap that Charlie pictured in his post above.
There is a way to use a ratchet strap in the same manner with some homemade corners added as well.

If you want to do it on the cheap and have bar or pipe clamps, cut 4 plywood or hardwood corner blocks. 1 to 1 1/2 ” thick in an L shape with legs a couple inches long. Make sure the insde corners are square and you can run 2 clamps one direction under the frame and 2 the other direction from above. It doesn’t take hardly any pressure, just enough to pull the corners together and square.
We use this at work on mitered doors whenever we make them. Don’t do enough mitered doors to get any fancier right now.

By running the clamps outside the part you’re clamping, you can center it on taller pieces and even make the blocks thicker to spread pressure over larger surfaces.

-- Robert - Haven Wood Crafts

A quick video of the jig I mention above.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGAKIVe-IaY&feature=related

Keep in mind. This will only work for small sided boxed and picture frames unless you would make 2 of them and use one on the bottom of the box and one on the top. I guess I will be making another one now that I thought of that….

Again, if it was a large sided box there would still need some support in the center of the sides as well and I would suggest the strap clamp.

I’ve tried the strap/clamps, but found them to be unwieldy. Now, I use rubber bands exclusively, and find them by far the easiest method. I got a bag of mixed lengths of heavy bands at Office depot, and haven’t used anything else since.

-- Bruce, San Jose, Ca www.spotofwood.com

I haven’t done many miters, but I’ve tried several methods. The tape was a bit of a mess, but that might have been because it was one of my first glue ups and my miters weren’t clean 45s. I like the strap clamp, as long the project isn’t too tall. I really like Robert’s L-shaped block method—it really works well. One of my favorites, though, is sticking triangular blocks on both sides of each corner to give bar clamp jaws a square surface to grip. Then you can use all your bar clamps and your bigger C-clamps, and focus more pressure where the fit is a little loose (miters are one of my many Achilles heels—haven’t made a tight-fitting one yet). However, I’m still solving the problem of sticking the blocks on well enough that they don’t come off under clamp pressure, but not so well that they tear chunks out of your workpiece when you knock ‘em off. Double-sided tape, maybe….

-- I hate finishing. I never manage to quit while I'm ahead. --Chris

If the wood is thick enough I like to put biscuits in my mitered corners. They really help with alignment. I have also used what I call an interior spline. It runs the length of the joint and is visible at the top and bottom. They really help with alignment and they add a decorative touch.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

I like the tape method best. Many use masking tape, but I found the that clear packing tape is a lot stronger and can therefore exert more pressure. But a lot of pressure should not be necessary with a well cut joint and so masking tape also works fine, except for the blue tape which doesn’t hold quite as well.

Just lay your pieces out on the bench with the outside up and the joints together in one long straight line. Tape over where the piece meet. Put the whole thing up on it’s edge and tape the the last corner shut

Quite often miter cuts have to be perfected after cutting if the saw set-up is a little off. This can be done on a disk sander with the table set at true 45 degrees. Just make some pencil lines across the cuts and take very light passes until your pencil lines disappear.

The 2nd way is to use a 45 degree shooting board and hand plane.

A third way and maybe the easiest way is to make yourself a miter gauge attachment with a 90 degree angle fence that bolts on to your miter gauge fence (picture an “L” shape about 4” long on each side . That way you can cut the first piece on one side of the angle fence and then the matching piece using the the other side. Even if your gauge setting is not exactly 90 degrees you will still get a tight matching joint. I am lucky that my saw came equipped with a fence like this.

-- Mike, American in Norway

We glue up 100’s of mitered posts (for handrail) of all shapes sizes and descriptions every month. IMO, the most effective and efficient method is to use the tape method to ‘roll it all up’....and then use SHRINK WRAP to pull it all tightly together.

A year or so ago, I was building some stairs in a residence and there was a finish carpenter on site. He was gluing together (or attempting to glue together) a mitered octagonal post. He bumbled, fumbled, cursed and swore as he got tangled up in his ‘miter straps’ fumbled with, and dropped clamps…..went on for 4 or 5 minutes and he finally asked me to give him a hand. I said sure, and suggested we break it apart…re-glue and go again. He knew about the tape method already, so we rolled up the post. He proceeded to ‘untangle’ his straps that were covered in glue as I started to wrap the post with the shrink wrap I had brought over with me. “good idea”!! he says…that’ll keep the glue on the straps off the posts!! I just wink at him…..and wrap the other end with shrink wrap (he’s still untangling) Two more wraps at the 1/4 points (6’ post) FINALLY READY he says!!.....Don’t need em’ I says…..Waddaya mean? he says….have a look I says….
Well….the look on this guys face was kind of priceless as he studied all the TIGHT joints! LOL!!
He said…”I feel like an idiot” Ive been fumbling with these straps for 15 years….and you just wrapped that post PERFECTLY in 30 seconds…...I thought he was gonna HUG me!! LOL!!

AHHhh…ya learn something new everyday….at least you SHOULD anyways.

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