Need Help with Corner Dado

[Hammer5573]

I’m attempting to reproduce a small table for a friend. It requires corner dados (see illustration) for the installation of two lower shelves. I’ve never done a corner dado installation in the past and I’d welcome any advice on the best way to cut the angled dados (dado set, router, saw and chisel etc)?

 

[JohnG]

I’d make a sled to hold the piece at 45*, similar to cutting splines. Either dado set or set up stops and use a flat top grind TS blade. This could also be done on a router table.

Or hand saw and chisel. 

[gee-dub]

A sled or a fixture for your miter gauge depending on scale.  I made this out of a piece of 2x4 to cut angled slots in the adjustable rails of a planer sled. 

The slots accept little wedges to set the height but, same basic idea.

[Hammer5573]

Thanks a bunch; that’s kinda what I was thinking…!

[joe mendel]

Simply use a crosscut handsaw and a sharp chisel and cut to the line, take off the waste little by little from each side to avoid blow out.  It should take you twenty-minutes to do four 3/4" wide, 1/4" deep excavations.  It just take way too much time, money, and resources to make a jig, and the process is exponentially safer to your hands.  Make your period table in the same manner as the period furniture maker created the original.  It is way easier than you think it is; do not over-think the process.

[Ronn W]

Hammer, You got me thinking about my own leg dado problem.  I kept trying to think of a way to do it quickly with power tools but I realized that I was probably going to spend more time thinking an making jigs that it would take to just do it. (thanks Joe).  So here's what I came up with.  The bulk of the removal of the corner of the shelf was done on the table saw.  The rest is hand saw, router plane and chisel work.

I haven't yet decided if I am going to glue the joints.  I could let them float.  I could glue them; this the bottom shelf and the the next one is 11" up - just let the legs flex.

[joe mendel]

On 5/22/2022 at 8:21 PM, Ronn W said:

Hammer, You got me thinking about my own leg dado problem.  I kept trying to think of a way to do it quickly with power tools but I realized that I was probably going to spend more time thinking an making jigs that it would take to just do it. (thanks Joe).  So here's what I came up with.  The bulk of the removal of the corner of the shelf was done on the table saw.  The rest is hand saw, router plane and chisel work.

I haven't yet decided if I am going to glue the joints.  I could let them float.  I could glue them; this the bottom shelf and the the next one is 11" up - just let the legs flex.

You are dealing with end grain, and cross-grain conflicts, the glue will do very little to keep the joint together.  A well fitting joint will suffice if the legs are made with stable material lacking in twist or bow.

[Coop]

Joe, can you show the completed piece?

[Ronn W]

On 5/22/2022 at 9:00 PM, joe mendel said:

You are dealing with end grain, and cross-grain conflicts, the glue will do very little to keep the joint together.  A well fitting joint will suffice if the legs are made with stable material lacking in twist or bow.

I tend to agree.  I have a good fit on these joints so they should be fine.

[Wimayo]

On 5/22/2022 at 9:00 PM, joe mendel said:

You are dealing with end grain, and cross-grain conflicts, the glue will do very little to keep the joint together.  A well fitting joint will suffice if the legs are made with stable material lacking in twist or bow.

The distances within the joint are so small there will be essentially no movement. Glue it and move on.