Box joints fingers on an angled corner

[Jim Dunn]

So I want to make a box/drawer that has an angle on one end. As I see it I need to make a jig to cut the box joint fingers? Seem to me that if I cut them square and then angle them I'll have gaps on the outside of one side and on the inside of the other.

Could I relieve the inside of the front of the box and accomplish a successful looking job without making a dedicated jig for this?

Also it looks like the end with the angle will have to have longer/deeper fingers than the square end. Is this right?

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?31522-Octagon-Box
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?52448-Parallelogram-drawer-joinery

I found these two. In the first I can see how a 45degree works but I'm cutting a 32degree angle. In the second I wouldn't think it is more that a 15degree angle but that said, I had a similar idea but wanted to find or ask for other opinions.

[Charles Lent]

You need to make a standard box joint jig, but with a shallow (low) indexing pin and a sloped push block. Then, when you cut the box joints on the ends of your boards, they need to be held at the desired angle. The sloped push block with the correct angle will allow you to hold the board against it's face as you pass it through the saw or router. This angle needs to be 1/2 of the desired angle of the box corner.

Charley

[Alan Schwabacher]

If the corner were mitered, you would want the angle to be half that of the corner. For box joints, you just cut the angle to be what you want at the corner, as the ends of each side piece overlap. Then use a standard box joint jig as mentioned, with a wedge as shown in your second link. All you are doing is to have the blade the height of the thickness of the piece that joins to the one you are cutting. The angle of the wedge is chosen to let the end of the board be flat to the table. That means you rip the wedge with the same blade tilt as you cut the ends.

[Jim Dunn]

Thanks fellows!

[Alan Schaffter]

Yup, a box jig with an angled fence will do the trick. This is more of a head exercise than a cutting exercise. What you can't do with a box jig is cut compound box joints- box joints in sides that meet at a non-right angle and also splay outward from vertical.

I would forego the extra step of mitering the ends first. Just make the sides and fingers longer, trim them off with a bandsaw, and clean them up with plane when you are done.

If you want an alternative approach that looks a lot like a box joint- miter (and spline) the corners for the angle you need and glue it up. Then cut dado keyways across the joints and insert wooden keys. This will not work too well, however, if your sides meet at too shallow of an angle.