Lock miter

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

So I got me one of them thar sexy Lockmiter bits from whiteside. I figured that one side wants to lay down and the other wants to stand up when cutting the channels.

MAN that's a lot of material on one pass. I wasn't able to hold onto the thing so I gotta figure out how to finger board it on place.

The app:
Tapered table legs 4 sided each leg made from 4 boards cut on a taper and mitered with the lockmiter.

I wonder if the lockmiter is over kill. It's for outdoor tables that'll get left outside in all weather. The glue will be tightbond III and the coating will be epoxy with white paint.

[Gary Keedwell]

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I wonder if the lockmiter is over kill. It's for outdoor tables that'll get left outside in all weather. The glue will be tightbond III and the coating will be epoxy with white paint.[/quote]



Over kill. I'm so fussy ...I ask myself that all the time.:o I guess one person's over kill is another's bragging rights? Fact is...your the only one who will really notice. ;)

Gary K.

[David DeCristoforo]

"MAN that's a lot of material on one pass..."

Si.... This requires more power than most routers can muster. Another reason we have shapers with power feeders. I'm not sure you need to go through this for an outdoor piece, esp. one that will be painted. Butt joints, glued and screwed with the screw holed filled with bondo would be just fine under epoxy paint.

[Bert Johansen]

Wow, that's a tough assignment! If it were me I would skip the taper. In fact, I would skip the whole glue-up mess and buy dimensioned lumber and be done with it. As long as you do a good job with the paint and protect the bottom from dry rot, the thing should outlast you and me both.

I made the table shown below in an afternoon. The legs are each a pair of 2x4s glued and doweled, the top is 3/4 ply, and the apron is 1x6 fir mitered at the corners. The legs are routed to receive the aprons and the aprons are routed to receive the top. I've used it for 20+ years, and it still looks good. It has stand-off levelers on the bottom of the legs.

[terry hansen]

There was an article on FWW explaining how to create jigs for running legs through the bit. The article was in reference to using QS Oak and achieving a uniform QS surface on all 4 sides - similar to how Stickley & others did. FWW 121 Nov/Dec 96 and in a book on joints; articles by Patrick Nelson.

I built jigs, they allow you to run both sides lying down to create lock miter on long surface, and made some QS legs for a Mission style buffet. Still a lot of material to remove, so I ended up cutting a 45 along surface prior to routing to reduce number of passes. I used my Hitch. M12V and was able to achieve good results.

Bit setup is crucial as minor adjustments result in double errors. John Lucas at the woodshop demo site has a good setup article showing how to speed setup and create reference blocks.

Would I do it again for legs - probably not as long surfaces are a pain.
However, I am using the bit to make drawer joints for my kitchen drawers as once set up smaller peices are fairly easy to run and the joint is strong.

Good luck - email me if you need a pdf of jigs.

[Brian Hale]

As others have said, even the slightest adjustment can create amazing differences. I used the "setup blocks" from Eagle America and they helped get me in the ballpark but i bet i cut 20 setup joints before i got this joint. Don't give up, you'll get it.


If you PM me your email i'll send you a image that helps determine you bit height settings......

Brian :)