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Spline - How would you make this?

2K views 35 replies 24 participants last post by  Gregn 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Im wanting to recreate this frame out of Jatoba and Maple… I cant think of a single safe way to cut this on a power tool. Note the 45 on each end.

Router maybe… still must hand tool the 45
Table saw… same thing

I dont want just an inlay… must go all the way through and could be up to 8" in length

Im stumped

 
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#3 ·
If I had to do it, I'd put that spline in there before the wood was milled to final size and shape. Then, when you cut the angle on the frame, and the 45 for the corners, it would all line up. I hope that makes sence I can see it in my head but sometimes the fingers don't do a good job of explaining
 
#10 ·
How thick is the dark wood at it's thickest point? I was thinking you could use half inch stock and simply angle it for the deep 45, then just treat it like molding at the corners. Rout out the maple slot.
 
#11 ·
If you dont want the inlay, you'll have to take the Jatoba and rip the lengths out, cut it where you want the maple and then glue the maple in.
Now all you need to do is angle the piece to 45 degree by tilting it back from the face of the frame. No need to do dangerous cuts to 45 degrees and the wood will have a much better surface grain.
 
#12 ·
I thought I had it, and type up a detailed explanation.
Then, before I could hit the post button, I thought about the forty five you mentioned on the end and went back to look.
I now don't know either.
I'm marking this post to watch though.
I hope you come back and tell us how to do it.
 
#14 ·
trexco

That's the best concept i could think of as well

If the spline were short enough you could cut on end but limited to blade height (also thought this would be too dangerous) this would eliminate the arc.

You may not need to clean up the arc though if the spline were cut at the proper angle to just touch the front and back corners, this would leave a void the shape of the arc. And final milling would expose this gap.

Just dont want to order a funky blade grind unless I have too, but would bite the bullet if absolutely necessary.
 
#15 ·
ripped on the TS - PRIOR to cutting the miter on the frame using a stopped cut (cut to line. stop TS, remove part, rinse and repeat)

the 45 at the end of the accent strip should be created and cleaned up with a narrow chisel.
 
#17 · (Edited by Moderator)
Table saw then chisel the mitered ends. Raise the blade to full height on the table saw to reduce the distance you have to stop from the end. Or, don't change anything and make the length of the maple different on back than on the front. You could still use a single piece of maple, just angled and beveled as needed.

Regardless, when you insert the maple, just cut the bevel but leave the thicknessed stock massively oversized…then trim the maple in place with a handsaw and plane flush with a handplane. Don't try to cut the maple to perfect size before insertion. By using oversized stock, all you have to worry about is making contact on the two mitered ends at the front and back surfaces. That means you can chisel away the middle to your heart's content without worrying about a perfect interior miter. Nobody will see that anyway. Or, the beveled piece of maple can be mostly dug out on that end, except for where the miters come together at the faces…that way, you don't have to chisel anything but the surface miters.
 
#18 ·
CNC, boom. That is probably how they did it.

Now if you are looking for a real answer for doing it in a regular old shop like most of us have, I would say that doing the laminations thing would be the safest and most repeatable, especially if it can be up to 8" long. I think it looks really cool, but could be one of those details that would take so much effort such a little effect (purely my opinioin, you may love it and others may notice it much more than myself).
 
#21 ·
I don't know why an inlay won't work because who cares if you see the spline on the back of a picture frame?
I don't see why you could not do a stop cut on a router table before cutting the bevel, if you feel you still have to go all the way through the material then just rout it in several passes from both sides and chisel the angel in the stop side.
An alliterative would be to cut the groove using a tenoning jig before cutting the bevel on the table saw but you could only make it around 5" long that way. All said and done you need to take some scrap experiment and see what works for you.
 
#22 ·
I just had an idea…
- Turn table saw on
- Turn grinder on
- Pick up grinder and walk over to table saw
- Hold grinder upside down over spinning TS blade at a 45 degree angle
- Slowly lower grinder down to make custom-grind blade

Might want to wear safety glasses for that one.
 
#23 · (Edited by Moderator)
In the end I think Jim is right… I can just make the inlay proud and run it through the planer.

This way I can make the inlay deep enough to give me a good size maple piece to work with still… say 1/4 deep… still have to hand tool the 45 but my chisels are razors so I should be good.

Thanks for all the thoughts! Will post project when im done.

Just realized this Jatoba is Q/S with tons of small flecking, should be cool.
 
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