Perfect Miters and 3 Other Tips Every Woodworker Should Know
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REFERENCED PROJECT VIDEOS
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In this video we cover 4 woodworking tips which were submitted by viewers like you. The tips include cutting perfect miter joints, clamping weird angles, avoiding tear out on a table saw, and tips to improve your sanding.
HOW TO SUBMIT A TIP
Submit your woodworking tip by emailing it to us at tips@foureyesfurniture.com
Here’s what to include:
1. In the subject line of your email, include a short description of tip (example: “How To Chop an Onion w/out crying” )
2. In the body of your email, include a detailed description of your tip. If you have pictures or video, all the better. Anything that will help us to better understand your tip is appreciated. Don’t worry about high production on this stuff. We’ll take care of that.
3. Where you’d like to be credited. Your Instagram Handle, your KZhead Channel, just your name…or even anonymous. Just let us know.
▸ Tips are great, but there's no substitute for actually building stuff. Check out our plans - www.foureyesfurniture.com/plans ▸ ...or just watch more woodworking tips - kzhead.info/channel/PLg7QrqfzwiFrpIAYDnIpKoGneqc7JG3Ai.html
Ive just got into woodworking and I love you guys for not gatekeeping these kinds of things
I'm a retired Architectural Millworker. On a Miter Joint or what we called a V fold joint, we never used Lock Joints, Biscuits etc. I would cut my miters as he shows slightly past 45. It is the glue swelling the wood that mess things up as well as a bad cut. To glue the joints lay the parts on the bench face up with the thin edge of the miters touching. Now use heavy Packing Tape Tape the part together. Be sure the entire joint is taped.The tape acts as a hinge. Now flip the assembly over and close the joint to check. It should be a tad out of square. Lay flat, add a bead of glue, close joint to spread glue, open the joint and wait a bit so the glue is absorbed. This prevents the wood from absorbing glue out of joint. Add more glue to joint and close. Check for square. Use a heat gun to soften the tape for removal. Ever shop I worked in over 35 years did it this way. This avoid miss aligned splines and biscuits and special machines. It save time and money. And yes the joint is strong enough. We wouldn't do it if it did not work. Joint failures would cause you big trouble with the boss.
Yep. Cabinetmaker here. I'm on board with all of this - tape hinging your joints together is a really slick way to make mitred boxes, and 'sizing the joint' by adding glue, waiting and adding more glue is essential when you're dealing with end grain (end grainish?). No need for clamps unless something doesn't look quite right on assembly. I'm not super down with cutting your mitres at 44.9, but then again I'm also usually using pretty dang accurate machinery, and always make up a little sample out of scrap to check the blade tilt angle. I don't love that this guy used a speed square to set his blade to 45, that neglects the fact that a lot of good saw blades have hollow bodies (the body is thinner at the arbor hole than at the rim to provide extra clearance).
@@jonwnter688 good tip about the sizing, a trick I’ve heard but never remember to do, in my haste. I feel like maybe that hollow grind is more common with larger industrial saws than it is on a 10” blade, perhaps. I’ve personally never run into it myself, although obviously you have to be aware of the teeth protruding more than the face of the blade.
Do you know of any videos showing this process?
@@jt5747 You do not need a video. Just do it. Experiment. Do a mock up. Figure it out. Most important, think about it. What are the prose and cons of a given method. I'm not being condescending. I'm encouraging you to teach yourself. Screw up a few samples until you get it right. Videos came along after I retired. Note: I stopped watching woodworking videos because I saw more than a few showing wasteful and in some cases out right dangerous stuff. If some of these guys worked in the shops I did they'd get their butts handed to them by the foreman. Good Luck mate.
6:30 "Oh! Phew! Thanks." The understated way this is delivered is absolute genius.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the animations! It makes such a difference in how well I understand whatever you are describing.
I love how you guys are essentially woodorking artisans, but in the background, there is an engine, showing other intetests.
Surprised I haven't seen anyone mentioning 9:47 - happens to all of us sometimes! Great tips, thanks for the video!
I came to the comments to see if anyone else caught that.
Same here 🤓
Eliminate tear up tip was brilliant...and very logical though I never would have thought of it. Thank you.
Thank you.when you speak about setting blade just past 45',is it 45.1' or as in the video,44.9'.much thanks
Thanks for all the great videos. I’ve followed both of your video lives for awhile now. I’ve made several of your projects and twisted them into my vision. Thank you both for helping me be better.
literally went "ohhhhhhh" at that batch sanding tip. so simple! also the last ball toss was hilarious
Yeah, and that is TOTALLY a tip. Not even tip-adjacent.
Great next level concepts like using scrap end pieces. Thank you for imparting your learnings/knowledge that are on another level then most. I subscribed as a thank you and I am interested in learning more
Outstanding, keep it up I wish we had this 40 years ago.
These are great tips for me as a novice wood worker. Thanks guys!
For the clamping blocks, I like to use the blue tape/super glue trick, which you can use on the finished piece and not worry about messing up 👍
One of my favorite channels. Always good stuff.
That's slick! Leaving extra material to provide a place to clamp, then cutting off that extra material when finished. Really slick!
These tip videos are terrific fellas. Thank you and keep them coming!
You are always very entertaining and informative! 😄Keep up the good work!
I too make sure I add a little DNA to every project.
🤣
If a piece of me isn't left on the job site I feel like it's not going to be a good job
About tear out, Your tip is really important when routing. I always start with the end grain first and end with the long grain. Always cleans up the corners.
If possible, cut your miter with one piece on one side of the blade and the next side on the other side of the blade. If you are off the two pieces will still make 90 degrees. Geometry for the win!
Thank you! I never dreamed to apply this method to miters for my boxes. It works! Brilliant! Thank you again!
That's a very excellent point. I also wonder if one could simply apply the "just ever so slightly over" on 2 of the parallel boards and the other 2 boards that are parallel to each other could be spot on 45. This should produce ever so slightly less error and possibly enough compensation to have it look perfect. I'm also thinking if you line up with a 45 degree reference, with that visible gap, just reduce the angle to the point where the gap just barely disappears....so that the tiniest movement you can make causes the gap to show up and moving back the other way causes it to disappear. That should still be over so slightly over, but buy the tiniest possible amount. Third option: if your digital angle finder is properly calibrated, then go to the next reading past 45 (45.1 in the example given) and bring the dial back as slowly as possible until it just reads 45. Every digital tool is going to have a minimum delta value that it can read, so going past and coming back should ensure that you're minimizing that error and still being on the side of the tolerance you want to be on.
Hypothetically yes... Realistically though. It's dependent on whether or not your TS fence is parallel / aligned too both left and right sides of each miter slot and parallel / aligned too both left and right sides of the blade... With lower end / cheaper saws. It's not uncommon, due to casting issues. To have one miter slot that's not equally parallel to its counterpart or square to its top. Which can be a real head scratcher when it comes to calibrating / aligning your saw.
yup, i know what your saying.
Only problem would be if you're too far out one mitre would be longer than the other.
There are numerous details involved when cutting any joint in wood. Not only the angle, the alignment of the blade to the fence, the flatness of the blade and grind of the teeth, the balance of the blade and the quality of the bearings with the driven shaft. Tip; when glueing scraps for clamping, place paper between the surfaces and there will be less chance of tear out when you remove them.
You guys rock, please keep bringing them
As a guy who does a LOT of "organic shapes" with my joinery, it's worth pointing out that your tip about "erring in a known direction" is REALLY useful just about everywhere in joinery... not just mitres. Look at it this way... If you're likely to be a "smidgeon" off, it's better to pre-plan where that "smidgeon" might show so you know where to cover it... worst case... AND best case, you're off in a known spot and direction with the "primary cut" so it's easier to make the minor adjustments with a file or even as small as a popsicle stick covered in sand paper... to get a "perfectly snug fit" every single time... It SHOULD go without saying, that you should ALWAYS "dry fit" your joints before the final assembly and gluing process/step. Even if you've already "test fit and adjusted" before, go ahead for a full assembly (if at all possible... or as close as possible) and DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING... It's just too easy, whether by haste or just poor memory or whatever else, to miss a piece in processing and refining to "perfection"... SO that extra bit of "dry fit" and checking everything together will save you LOTS of heartache, headache, and hair loss before you've got glue drying as you sit there wrestling between two pieces that can't possibly meld together properly and the mess of sticky, gooey run-off spreading from the joint to your fingers, clothes, work-table, floor, other bits of scrap and possibly project materials, tools, and everything else in the shop... OH YEAH... AND no matter how frustrated you get with yourself, throwing the project across the shop is NOT the answer either. It won't help anything. ;o)
I have so much to learn…brilliant!
Nice tutorial. Great videography and graphics!
Great tips. These will be very useful. Thanks for sharing them.
Thank you. Learned three thing i need today
These episodes are the best. Very usefull. Hi from Mexico
Excellent presentation!
Great sanding tip
You guys rock. Please keep these tips coming
Ok, the tips and such are helpful, but he editing is just hilariously intended, and that's what makes your videos unique and great!
The last throw… *chef kiss*
I'm planning to take a big step from regular office worker to a woodworker. Last 2 months I probably saw hundreds of videos to know everything about woodworking. Your videos are great and very helpful, in fact the best for my development. One day I'll support your patreon, for sure. Keep the good work!
Rule 1 to always remember in any profession. "Nobody knows everything about their profession" Rule #2. Dont offhandedly discount anyone's thoughts regardless of experience level because even if it only rarely happens that way. You never know when someone with little experience has a great new idea. Sometimes the solution to a problem only need to be looked at with a fresh pair of eyes
👉NORM ABRAMS 👈 the man is a walking encyclopedia of woodworking. his publications are extensive and can nearly fill a library ! The O.G of Cabinetry . Good luck
While I welcome you into the woodworking world, please be sure to know and practice all safety procedures, and what equipment you need to remain relatively safe while using your power tools and hand tools. These guys in the video are not using safety equipment on their tablesaw, with the only exception of a riving knife being installed that helps prevent kickback. There needs to be a blade guard installed as well whenever possible; which in most cases will be about 80 to 85 percent of the time. Please don't let their practice concerning this become yours too.
Great tips guys thanks for sharing
I use this same tip for miters in base board using a chop saw . 40.5 degrees for outside corners. I do not use shaped moldings. I butt inside corners.
Useful tips I'll actually use!!!!
Excellent info & entertaining. Nice combo.
Love your ball game! Good tips!
Amazing video! Great techniques and also I’m inspired to make a tape ball with all my wasted tape
Tip: When your thumb is bleeding, try a band-aid! Total game changer for wound care.
Love these videos, please keep them coming....
Well done. Good info.
Great tips guys!👍🏻👏🏻
A solution (for those who have this as an option) to getting those clamping jigs for awkward angles, since it was mentioned to no longer be for sale, would be 3D printing. Also you could make a lot of them too by making multiple of them with a single print job! Naturally I'd recommend a very high or 100% infill for this given that the part will be under load in this use-case.
Thank you!
You guys just leave me with a sense of wanting to travel to the US to go out for a beer. Are you really this likeable?
Not a tip, but a Thank you, for inspiring me to refurbish and make my dinning table long lasting. I saved the wooden table and made brand new legs out of steel... It was 35-40 years old... it should last another 50 easy. Gracias very much.
Hahaha amazing vid guys! Glasses off at the end cut haha, amazing!
Great tips
You guys are pretty great.
Also, you obviously need to keep a large tape ball on hand in case somebody needs to say something. Thanks for the great video! Saved to my shop playlist.
You’re 100% right. Never worked with me 45 degree. Allows small gap, and allows tried to move the miter saw one hair.
great tips
PLEASE PLEASE show how to do mitered corners without a domino!! Love your stuff, you guys are awesome.
You can use dowels. If you have access to a drill press you can make a doweling jig. Otherwise you can buy them for way cheaper than a domino. However, as someone who gave up on dowels, lol, I have to say it does take some skill/ time to get good at. Also, probably don't buy the cheapest one you can get, those don't work very well imo.
Biscuit ? Dowel ?
If you read some of the other comments, and even watch some other four eyes videos I believe, you will see the technique of taping the miters and then simply folding them together to glue them up. Afterwards you can make splines if you need extra reinforcement.
That tape ball catch at 0:33 was like a crisp high five
You guys have too much fun with the ball... well done. Really enjoying this series, thanks
about to 3d print a few of those clamp jigs, thanks
Loving this series!
Could you guys make plans for a gaming table? I’m not sure about your audience but I’m kinda of a geek, and I have some board games to play with friends every now and then! A multi purpose dining table with your design touch would be awesome :)
Great video well done :-)
Did Chris slice the crap out of his finger with the sander at 9:48? OUCH!!
I was just wondering the same thing.
That must have hurt, judging by his reaction (or lack thereof) it seems like it's not an too uncommon of an occurrence. At least, I imagine it's not always as severe as what we saw.
Im an idiot. Instead of 44.5 I set mine for 45.5. NO WONDER!!!! Great video thank you
Thanks
Man, you got me good with that thumbnail. I read it and thought "yeah right, what kind of nonsense is this, or is he gonna use some mathematical formula that is basically the same as just using a 45". So, I clicked thinking I would get a good laugh. I'm glad I was wrong, this is such a simple yet effective tip.
2nd Time I've heard. I'll try it with scraps Saturday 🤙🤙🤙🤙🤙
You should catch an object that isn't the thrown object just to mess with people. Great video!
Thanks.
2:43 that looks really nice.
I’m new so I got confused. The picture of the video shows 45.1 but in the video it looks like you were using 44.9 so which direction do you go ? Above or below the 45?
So what’s the answer?
dont think i ever got a reply@@josephmurphy4503
buried miter cuts are really the answer
You guys sound so super serious in these videos.
tip for glued on clamping cauls, use tape and glue to caul to the tape and then use the caul for clamping your project up
Overshooting 45° for the Box miter is a great trick at our cabinet shop I work at we overshoot miters by 10 or 15 degrees when it the inside is not going to be seen. This makes for a great looking outside edge
@@daverowe4566 I'm sorry. 10-15 degrees is the total gap on the inside of the joint. So, cutting pices at 38-40 degrees and running off the other side of the blade with a sled. We have a really wide table built out from the saw.
In the first tip what kind of mirka sander were yall using to sand the box?
Great advice here... btw hope your thumb feels better !
As also thanks 🙏🏾 more tricks to add to my arsenal. Always look forward to these videos 💪🏾
So should 45degree corners be exactly 45 for a picture frame ?
Good video - I had some trouble clamping mitered boxes with just parallel clamps (uneven clamping pressure across the joint line - closes well where the parallel clamp touches, not as well on the areas where it doesn't touch). Would be nice if you could address tips on how to do that... I saw you doing that on the box video (parallel clamps with dominos), but not a lot of explanation. I used dominos on my last project and needed to get some significant pressure on the joints after applying glue... having just tape wasn't enough pressure to close the gaps... the little clamp jig you have doesn't reach all the way to the center of the box. :) Not sure if I'm making sense :)
What we do is rip cauls that are the length of your miter joint. Each caul is a right triangle with one 90 degree angle and two 45s. Then you temporarily glue one onto the outside of each piece of your miter joint, with the 90 degree angle closest to the miter.. but a little inset so you can still see the edge. Then you have parallel clamping ability along the whole joint! Easiest cleanup is if you put a piece of newspaper between the caul and the piece of the box while gluing.. you should be able to knock off the caul without messing up your piece and then you just sand off a little bit of newspaper!
Nice work. Which app do you use for the sketches??
its a little more work but i tend to cut at 45 and hand sand the inside corners a little it's always worked perfectly for me :)
Does anybody know the brand of these clamping blocks at around 5:15? Thank you in advance!
A video with a thumbnail hook that gets answered immediately and has some good tips?! Is this Nirvana?
Great tips - a tad confused about the 45 angle for boxes- you mention going over to 45.1 but then show an angle at 44.9..Which one is correct please? Thanks
It depends on whether you measure the angle starting from 90 degrees, or 0 degrees. Just be sure to go slightly over, and make all of your cuts on the same side of the blade. For example, your blade is normally set at 90 degrees, so decrease the angle to just a little past 45 to 44.9. If you put a gauge on your blade and it is zeroed out, then increase the angle from zero to 45.1.
The last one was more a technique, which I suppose is either a tip or a trick depending on if it's Halloween or not. Speaking of which, I'd like to see a video of how the tape ball became imbued with magic powers cause I could certainly use one of those in my home.
"Tip adjacent" I'm so glad you were precise in pointing out that detail. (eye roll)
I avoid tear out by adjusting the blade depth to about 1/8" and making a cut, then make a second cut at full depth. It seems that the blade striking along the plane of the wood doesn't tear but striking through does.
Can you use ca glue and tape on your off cuts.
On the 44.9 degree issue; this seems to make sense, but again, using a multiplier of 4 corner this time, rather than two edges, does that have an impact on a box being square?
I like Shaun’s disappearing glasses at the end.
I am still grappling with the concept of getting a mitre joint "perfect". In a previous communication you say that "set the blade 45.1 from the vertical, or 44.9 from the horizontal"In this video at1:39the digital gauge was at 90 degrees in the vertical but you set the blade to44.9 degrees (not 45.1). Could we choose another example to illustrate your point a little more clearly. In making a hexagon, the angle would be 30 degrees from the vertical and 60 degrees from the horizontal? Is this correct? So would I set my blade 29.9 degrees starting with the blade at 90 degrees and the gauge zeroed to the blade and 60.1 degrees starting with the blade at 90 degrees and the gauged zeroed to the table, then placed on the blade that then is lowered to 60.1 degrees. I realize this is a long question and that you are busy. Thanks.
One of the tips I learned as an apprentice joiner over 60 years ago was that for a quick, on-site way to cut a 45° mitre, say on a skirting board, without a guide. So long as your saw is clean and a little reflective (as it should be) angle you saw whilst looking at the reflection, when you see a right angled reflection, start sawing and keep looking 👁👁
Big LIKE for 6:33
What 3d program you used?
I wonder if you can use the great masking tape and super glue trick to temporarily glue on the odd shaped clamping blocks and then easily remove them without having to do special trimming and clean up. For those that doesn't know this trick... look at videos from Crimson Guitar. Not sure if he created the trick, but that's where I learned it. It's a fabulous trick!!
I have had issues with the tape sticking enough on crazy angles like their table and chair examples. But, I have had 2 out of three attempts work with hot glue only. And the pieces break off and clean up easier. Just a thought, and I am NOT saying it will always work... lol.
Excellent video as always. However I have a question. When you put a course out, what platform or software, or CMS do you use?
With regards to clamping angle pieces, I thought I sent you a diagram with a nice alternative clamping blocks
Thank you Chris for these tips. I make hexagon shelves quite often and I encounter this problem of open ends, but with hexagons the gaps make everything shift around (it will touch perfectly in 4 places and kinda set down and open up even more in 2 that are on the sides). And getting my mitre saw to be at 30 degrees perfectly seems impossible. Do you have a tip for me to improve my hexagons?
for each joint, cut the miter angle for each board on opposite sides of the blade, this way, if your blade is off say 1°, one side of your joint will be 31⁰, and the other will be 29⁰, but they will add up to 60⁰. Also, for a table saw, move the blade up as far as possible, because there will be less deflection when cutting closer to the center of the blade.
@@cameronwebster6866 I only use bevel cuts because it makes more sense to lay the board flat on the base of the saw. Do you suggest I use mitre cuts with the boards on their side for hexagons and other frame items?
@@mrbubik1 Bevel vs miter doesn't matter, I only said miter because no matter how you cut your boards, you are making a miter joint. What does matter is that for each joint, board "A" is cut on the left side of the blade, and board "B" is cut on the right side, or vise versa, this will cause any error in blade angle to cancel out. for example, if you were aiming for a blade angle of 30⁰, but ended up at 30.5⁰, if you cut boards "A" and "B" on the left side of the blade, the total angle of the joint will be 61⁰. If, however, you cut board "A" to 30.5⁰ on the left side of the blade, the if you cut board "B" on the right side of the blade, board "B" will be cut to 29.5⁰, the total joint angle will be 60⁰. If you are still confused, I will make a diagram.
Thank you. I think this happens naturally because for each piece I pull the board and flip it over for the next cut.
@@mrbubik1 are you cutting them from one long board like this/------/-----/-----/? If you are then the error cancelation will happen.