Reversible spline jig

[Bill Tarbell]

My wife asked for a little shelf to place in her spice cabinet so she could have 2 tiers near the back.  It was a simple little project, but i figured it'd also be an excuse to practice splined miter joints... and this required constructing a spline jig

 

I had a bit of 5/8 oak plywood from helping a friend make some bookshelves so i used that to make the upper portion.  For the base i used some mdf i got from a used construction materials store.  The runner was from a mahogany railing post i picked up from the same store.  

 

I started off by making the two top pieces with a 45° miter on one end.  I then made 8 wedges at 45°.  THe wedges were just roughly sized for the moment.  Rather than measuring, i found center on the base and then test fit the wedges in place with one of the top pieces lining up to the center line.  This allowed me to mark one of the wedges to know how what size to cut them down to so that they didn't hang off the back of the base.  I clamped a stop block onto the back of the cutoff sled and cut the 8 wedges down to the same size.

 

The runner was cut oversized and then recut so that i was only taking a sliver off at a time until it fit perfectly into the slot.  I then cut a few extras so i'd have them for later jigs.  Side note.. that was the first time i worked with mahogany.  Boy is it heavy and dense.  Getting a sliver from it basically feels like getting steel shards jabbed into you rather than wooden ones.

 

Everything was attached with just glue.  When cutting the dado for the runner i made sure to place it so that the jig could be flipped.  This way one side cuts a 90° and the other side is set to cut a 15° spline mortise instead of a perpendicular one.  I double-checked to make sure that both cuts would stay clear of the vertical supports before i cut the dado.

 

The results turned out nice, but sadly it came out with a 90.5° angle rather than an exact 90.  When i put the shelf in it was able to rock back and forth slightly. Not a terribly big deal since i could hold or clamp it in place without any trouble.  I doubt the .5° would be cause any noticeable length difference in two side-by-side splines, but it still bugs me that it's there.  If i were to make another then i'd be extra careful to ensure it came out at a true 90.  

 

[Eric.]

A couple strips of blue tape could fix that .5*.  Just find out which side of the jig needs it.

 

Honestly, on that particular jig, it really doesn't matter at all...the only effect will be that one side of your cut will be longer than the other side by about the diameter of a human hair...if that.  It won't be even close to perceptible to the eye.  But I do understand how irritating imperfection is, even if it's meaningless.

[Bill Tarbell]

And here's the little shelf.  Most of the splines came out excellent and are entirely seamless.  A couple have a slight gap near the ends.  I had cut the splines a thousanths or two too wide so they required a mallet to drive them the full way into place.  Sadly, I wasn't paying enough attention when i was tapping them in and a couple came up a bit shy.  I noticed after i finished tapping them all in but by that point the glue had tacked up and there was no budging them.  Oh well, learning experience i suppose.  I suppose it really doesn't matter since the splines aren't even visible when the shelf is in place.. or at least that's what i tell myself.

 

I haven't built my router table yet, so in order to do the face profile i had to whip up a quick table with a fence.  I made it out of a piece of melamine-like stuff i got from the used construction materials place.  I'm guessing it was a cabinet door, but not sure. Anyway, it's hard, flat and very smooth.  Too bad i was hasty and cut the fence slots out into the work area.  Oh well.. more incentive to make the real table, right?

 

For the finish i first used brush on poly. After the first coat i did a brief sanding with 0000 wool.  Upon applying the next coat i quickly learned that i will never use wool between coats again.  Even with a paper towel wipedown and a brief hit of air, it still had little tiny wool lint.  Due to OCD, i ended up sanding off all the finish and starting over.  This time i went with a wipe on poly and decided i prefer this approach, so i'll likely stick with wipe instead of brush from now on.  Oh, and the wood is maple with walnut splines.

 

I also didn't take the routed face into account when i cut the splines.  I was all proud that the splines were perfectly symmetrical when i first cut them.  I even called the wife down to show her my beautiful symmetry. Then, after i routed the profile i realized i should have taken the profile's width into account to center the splines on the flat top rather than the full width.  What a booger.

 

[wtnhighlander]

I'd say its a nice job. Don't sweat those little details that no one else will ever notice.

[wdwerker]

Looks sharp to me. That's one of those jigs I have always meant to build.

[wouldwurker]

Mrs. Dash looks happy in her new home!

 

I've never seen an angled key like that.  I like it, and I like the symmetry you created by reversing the angle on the opposite end.

[Bill Tarbell]

Thanks, i got the idea for the angled spline from this page: http://www.azwoodman.com/splined-miter-joints.html  I believe i stumbled across it when i was flipping through google images looking for jig designs.  I figured if i only did 1 runner then i could flip it and do the angled cut on one side while keeping the straight cut on the other.  I've only used it on the one project so far, but I'm pretty happy with how well the jig turned out.

 

This is the picture that caught my eye:

[wouldwurker]

I DIG that. Going to have to 'borrow' it.

[Coop]

Bill I use one like this on boxes. Super simple. Cut a 2x at a 45, and attach it to a piece of ply and run it against your fence.

http://www.sawtoothideas.com/uploads/product_image/image/761/large_Corner_Spline_Miter_Jig.jpg