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VIDEO CUTTING & INSTALLING PERFECT MITRE JOINTS*
1K views
Jan 25, 2024
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View Video Transcript
0:00
Lately I've been working on some box newels for a stair railing I'm working on
0:13
That's what these are here. They essentially act as a post for the handrail to connect to during final installation
0:23
There'll be some spindles underneath. I've made all this starting with rough cherry
0:29
But this video is all about the installation of these pieces of trim in the panel area
0:36
There's a lot of trim to go in and the joints have to be quite nice because they're going
0:40
to be prominent. So I'm going to be showing you how I do this both accurately and in large enough quantity
0:47
to get the job done. So these are some of the pieces of trim I made
0:53
I just used the scraps left over from the construction of the newels themselves
0:58
It was a good use of materials. Made them on the router table. And the first step in mitering is to cut one mitre on the ends
1:07
of all of the pieces of trim. The trim turned out pretty well, but as with homemade trim
1:12
sometimes the ends are a little bit chattery as the bit starts to stabilize
1:17
So I'm looking for that. I don't want to include that roughness
1:21
But the first step is really very simple. If my end is good, it's good up to about here in this case
1:28
I'm just going to make the first mitre for each piece. So at this stage, we've got one mitre cut on a number of pieces
2:17
So this next step is all about marking. And you don't use a pencil
2:23
A pencil is not precise enough, even a sharp pencil. to use some kind of a utility knife and you always mark each piece to fit a specific spot
2:33
So theoretically the length of this edge here, where I'm going to be putting the trim, is the
2:38
same as the length of this here. But in practice there's going to be several thousandths of an inch difference, and that's
2:45
too much. So each piece is custom cut. And I set the piece in this way, touching the outside edge
2:56
and I make my mark. Now, let me show you what doesn't work as well
3:00
I could put it in this way, and I'd still be registered against the edge of the opening
3:05
but now it's just a whole lot harder to mark, see, because I don't have as neat access with the knife
3:12
So do it this way, put it in tight, put the trim against the edge
3:19
and now you've got everything held nice and solid. put the blade here
3:25
and just make a little mark it doesn't have to be too big but
3:31
there's the mark there and that's all we need now in the interests of efficiency
3:39
I always mark at least two pieces before I go back to the saw
3:44
you can waste a lot of time walking back and forth of the saw if you don do at least two at a time so I registering the far end against the opening and now I marking it here with the knife and we got another mark
4:05
so that one's a little light just going to make it a bit more prominent
4:11
and now it's back to the saw now I'm this is the this is the piece that's closest
4:17
to me so I'm going to keep that in my left hand and I'm going to keep this in my right hand
4:22
so I can remember where they go. Now one of the things I like about this saw is that the position of the blade is evident on the workpiece
4:42
because of the shadow that it casts. So this is much better than the
4:47
laser blade devices because it shows exactly where the blade is because the blade makes the shadow
4:56
Now I need to swivel this over because my last cut establishing the first mitre was in this
5:02
direction. So now I need to swivel this all over. Make sure I hit that 45 degree stop
5:10
Now this is where the precision comes up. I'm going to do this just by talking
5:17
But can you see there's the saw, there's the knife mark, and then there's the shadow of the blade
5:27
Now the shadow of the blade is not very distinct right now because it's not spinning. I'm going to start at spinning
5:32
And when you do, I want you to notice how this far corner of the knife mark, I'm going to align it just on the edge of the shadow of the blade
5:44
So pay close attention to that. and that's how I get a precise cut. So here we go
5:52
So that's one gun. I don't want to waste my trip over to the saw so I'm going to do that again
6:15
I know from experience that if anything, these pieces might be slightly too long, a few thousandths of an inch too long
6:25
My goal is to get them on the right, on the first cut, to get a perfect fit
6:30
I definitely don't want to cut them too short because then my piece is ruined, at least for long lengths
6:35
So let's go over and see how they fit. They should just slip in
6:44
I would say that was just about perfect. And another one just about perfect
6:55
So I'm not gonna fasten these down yet because I know from experience that I want to make sure
7:02
that the other pieces are going to fit perfectly before I nail anything down, fasten it permanently
7:09
Occasionally it might happen that you didn't set the saw correctly, you didn't hit the right detent
7:13
detent and so you don't actually have a 45 there. You don't want to have to replace this piece out after it's more securely installed
7:21
So next step, it's just like the first step. I'm not going to, I'm not going to mark it this way because that's clumsy
7:32
I'm going to turn it around this way. So it nestles right in. It's right in there tight. I have to push this down a bit more
7:43
Push this tight and mark it So we got to mark
7:54
We're going to do the same thing on the other side because I never go to the saw with less than two pieces to cut
8:03
So there it's tight. And the knife mark
8:17
Now, since it all comes down to the knife mark, I just want to, before I take the piece
8:23
away, I'm going to make sure that knife mark is in the right place. This one's a bit light
8:28
So I'm going to make it a little more firm. Now we go back to the saw
8:40
I've cut these two short pieces now and none of these longer ones are in permanently
8:46
and they're not even pushed down all the way. I just want to get a sense that they are going to fit finally and when I put this one in
8:54
I'd say that's a little on the tight side but I'll be able to tap that in later so I'm not going to
8:59
worry about that. And then this one here, it's a smidge too tight
9:09
As I said, going back to the saw isn't the greatest thing, but it's a lot better than making
9:14
the piece too short. So I always err a little bit on the side of too long, and I have a trick to show you for cutting
9:22
off just a little bit, because it's very easy to go too far and to ruin this piece and all the work that
9:27
you've invested in it, but this technique ensures that you don't cut it too short
9:32
And it has to do with the kerf of the blade. So the teeth on a blade like this are just a little bit wider than the body of the blade
9:45
So what I do is without the blade running, I push the blade all the way down and then push
9:57
the piece tight to the body of the blade. It's kind of dark in there, but it's touching the body of the blade, not any of the teeth
10:07
pushing really hard. I'm just snugging it up to the body of the blade. Then I'm
10:11
going to raise the blade and start it spinning and you'll see that it takes off
10:16
just the slightest little smidge. So now we should go back and find that this
10:30
little piece fits just fine. I've never had it overshoot. It just takes the
10:35
slightest little bit off so yeah it's actually just perfect this is a perfect fit
10:41
occasionally if it's too long for one cut I'll just go back and give it another cut
10:46
now I know these pieces are going to fit this one actually that's kind of tight I
10:53
think no I guess we can we can tap that we can tap that so now it comes time for installation
11:05
What I do here with these longer pieces in a longer panel opening like this is I apply a little bit of glue, but only to the bottom edge
11:21
I don't want to apply glue here on the side because when I put the trim in and push it down, that glue is going to smear and come up and just make a big mess that's going to be visible
11:33
but if I put the glue on the bottom like this, then the glue is only going to contact the wood of the panel when it fully sorry about that that was the compressor kicking in
11:52
compressor for the pin nailer that i'm going to be using to secure this so i don't
12:02
strictly speaking the glue is not completely necessary but i prefer to use as few
12:08
metal fasteners as possible and the pin nailer helps to hold things while the glue dries
12:19
Now, I can't push that down any further with my hand, but I've just got a little block of wood here
12:27
And if I align it correctly, it lets me dry that trim down nice and tight with everything
12:38
So all I've got now is my last piece. And I just want to double check
12:45
Yeah, that's going to be a really nice fit. It's just a nice sort of just the right level of snugness
12:51
So I can confidently put some glue on. Slip it in place
12:59
Remember, once again, no glue back here because that would smear all across the side
13:03
and it would be visible on this little edge that remains open
13:08
So I'm just, probably don't, strictly speaking, don't need to tap this in
13:20
I'm gonna do it anyway just to be sure. So there we have it
13:25
Okay, now there's only one thing left to do. As I said, I'm gonna secure these with 23 gauge pins
13:30
They're very small. They're the diameter of a sewing needle. They have no head, so they don't leave much of a mark
13:35
but they do leave a tiny mark. And I find it best if that tiny mark is symmetrical
13:42
So I'm going to make small marks two inches from each end of the long piece of trim, and then one in the middle
13:52
It's a little thing, but keeping the fasteners symmetrical just helps to raise the quality a little bit
14:01
So here we've got this. Now, if you've never seen 23-cage pins, this is what they look like
14:10
They're very small. I mean, this is a whole strip of them, and it fires off one at a time
14:15
In the right kind of gun, you can even shoot two-inch long pins in hardwood, and they don't buckle
14:23
So we don't need two-inchers for this job, but I'm going to do the middle one first
14:29
because the middle one has always has a little bit of flex in it
14:33
I can't really do too much to push the ends in, but I can push the middle end. And I'm going to center this, pull the trigger
14:46
Now, that probably looks more prominent on the camera than it will in real life
14:53
when everything's all finished, and this cherry has darkened up. Cherry darkens really nicely on its own and exposure to light
15:05
And when that happens, the holes from these pins are going to be pretty well in business
15:13
So there you have it. Trim work done precisely and fairly quickly with hardwood
15:21
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15:27
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