How do I cut angled lap joints (cross joints?)?

[Hunter Locke]

All,

I am working on a walnut shoe rack, and I have a side frame with mitered half laps on the corners. I need to put a stretcher inside the frame at about a 35 degree angle (referencing the horizontal) to support the stretchers that make up the "shelves" for the shoes.

I think this could be completed by cutting half laps (cross joint?) in the left and right vertical sections of the frame, in the correct locations, thus nesting the stretcher inside the frame at an angle.

My question is, what is the best way to cut the half laps in the middle of those pieces, in the correct location, and at the correct angle?

Thanks for looking, I'm excited to begin contributing to this community!

Cheers.

[Dave Richards]

If I were doing that in my shop, I'd use my Router Boss to guide the router. You could also do it on the table saw with a miter gauge or on a router table or you could make a sort of template to follow with a hand held router. With the Router Boss or the other router methods, you could make the half laps half blind so the cross rail doesn't show end grain.

[Hunter Locke]

Great. The more I think about it the more the router makes sense.

The stopped blind joint will improve my design so thanks for that thought Dave.

[Dave Richards]

I'm glad that works for you. If you use a template to guide the router, make it one that can be flipped over so you get joint symmetry from end to end.

[Hunter Locke]

Just finished the routing after completing the jig this morning. Here's a picture of the jig, I'll post some shots of the cuts but It worked out well!

294978

35 degree angle stopped lap joint jig

[Hunter Locke]

One side frame glued up