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  • Radiused Box joints
  • Blind Miter & Hidden Spline
  • Mortise and Tenon Joinery
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  • Box with Fitted Lid
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  • Full Blind Miter Box Joints
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  • Drawing the Joint
  • Modeling the Box
  • Cutting the Joint

Blind Miter & Hidden Spline

Ninety degree joints with 90 degree V bits and minimal voids

PreviousRadiused Box jointsNextMortise and Tenon Joinery

Last updated 1 year ago

While modern adhesives are surprisingly able to allow one to simply cut and glue miters (esp. if one is willing to add a few nails), adding a hidden spline will create a much stronger joint (and one which has the added benefit of being self-aligning).

Drawing the Joint

The miter itself is of course simply a bisecting of the junction of the two boards:

In order to cut the miter and the void for the spline a V endmill which is narrower in diameter than the boards are in thickness will be necessary:

In order to leave a reasonable amount of material, the endmill should be used to cut so that it is positioned closer to the interior than the exterior of the box ― making the cuts for the spline equal in width to one-half the board thickness and positioning them one-eighth the board thickness in from the interior edge results in a reasonable arrangement which is easily calculated:

Which may then be drawn up:

Rotating the components and arranging them flat on the working area for cutting out shows them in profile as:

Modeling the Box

Cutting the Joint

Cut the file:

With a downcut endmill the parts need minimal cleanup:

And the box fits together, self-aligning:

Basic Miter Joint (overhead view)
Blind Miter Joint and profile of smaller V endmill
Blind Miter Joint with smaller V endmill positioned
Blind Miter Joint and hidden spline profile
Blind Miter Joint and hidden spline profile unfolded
Box with parameters/dimensions
Box parts with side profiles
Parts preview with miters
Pockets for hidden splines