Altar Card Frames

[Magnum V8]

My first post; my latest project.

A friend of mine, who is a Roman Catholic priest, needed frames for his altar cards that he purchased. I took this as an opportunity.

The frames are red oak, mortised and tenoned, and glued to the two-piece base. I was pressed for time, so the frames have just a butt joint to the base. I would rather have made a spline joint or tongue and groove.

The finish is two coats of wipe-on poly.

[Beechwood Chip]

Nice design - simple, effective, and enhances rather than distracts from the cards! <br class="Apple-interchange-newline">The butt joint is long grain to long grain, so it's probably strong enough without any joinery.

If you are worried about the butt joint, you can always put a couple dowels in from the bottom. It would be completely invisible, and you could put them in even though the pieces are completely assembled and finished. Of course, you have to be able to drill a hole that won't pop out in front or in back.

[Magnum V8]

Nice design - simple, effective, and enhances rather than distracts from the cards! <br class="Apple-interchange-newline">The butt joint is long grain to long grain, so it's probably strong enough without any joinery.

If you are worried about the butt joint, you can always put a couple dowels in from the bottom. It would be completely invisible, and you could put them in even though the pieces are completely assembled and finished. Of course, you have to be able to drill a hole that won't pop out in front or in back.

B-Chip,

Thanks. It was important to me that the frames would not be a distraction from the cards. I thought the cards were beautiful, and I didin't want them to be the secondary. Also, the priest loves simplicity. I thought that if the butt joint ever failed, I would use some long screws from the the bottom, but I like the dowel better.