"Patrick Gillette" wrote in message
A lap joint doesn't work because the pieces are already cut to fit the
mirror.

I'm off to Lowes to look for other ideas. Thanks guys.


"Patrick Gillette" wrote in message
news:Y6cZb.79315$jk2.420120@attbi_s53...
I'm building a medicine cabinet and was planning on using small biscuits
to
join the corners of the door. However the Cheap-O biscuit joiner I own
makes
the hole too big for the smaller biscuit. I've tried to make it work,
but
it
just won't do what I want.

Is a spline a safe way to join the corners? They're not at 45 degrees
but
butted against each other. Any other alternatives? I wanted to stay away
from using L brackets, but that may be the only solution. I have very
basic
tools to match my basic skills.


I often run into similar joinery decisions when using wide 1/2" hardwoods
and not wanting to cut housing joints, or stopped housing joints, of some
type (dado/groove) for appearance reasons. The below fits your criteria of
already cut parts whose dimensions can't be changed.

I generally solve it by using a router to cut what are very similar to
mortise and "loose tenons". (I use the term because of the image it creates,
not necessarily for its correctness.)

IOW, I cut a "mortise"or stopped groove (some running almost the length of
the part) in both pieces with a router bit in a router table, the edges
referenced much the same way you would do for butt joints with a plate
jointer, then use a "loose tenon"/spline/tongue fashioned from the same
stock, to join the parts.

In a traditional sense, this "loose tenon" is in reality, a "spline", or a
"tongue".

The resulting joint is generally strong enough for the task, with plenty of
long grain glue area and I have not had one fail. Downside is the need for
extra careful alignment when cutting the "mortises" or grooves.

FWIW, in 1/2" stock I generally make the grooves 5/16" deep with a 1/4"
straight cut router bit, and dimension the splines/tongues the thickness of
the groove and 5/8" wide.

That said, making your own "biscuits" to fit the slot of your plate jointer
in the same manner that you would cut the loose tenon/splines/tongues is a
time consuming, but not impossible, task. The only real difference is in the
shape of the spline/tongue/loose tenon above.

HTH ...

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Last update: 2/13/04