How would *you* make this?

[Narayan Nayar]

So a friend came over tonight with a request to help him make some "corner blocks" (that's what I call them) for a board game of sorts that he's making for his son.

Here's a quick Sketchup model of the block:

http://www.narayannayar.com/images/cornerblock.jpg

Like I said, these blocks will sit on the corners of a board-game like piece. The only two functional requirements are to hide a really bad mitering job on angled aluminum (really sharp corners, a gap of about 1/8" at all the miters :)--not my work!), and to raise the board off the ground so that the screws used to affix the aluminum don't scratch a table.

I did tell him that it'd be easier just to get rid of the aluminum and make a wooden frame, but he wanted to keep the aluminum. Anyway, I came up with about 10 different ways to make this and settled on one, but I thought it would be fun to see how you would do it. I won't tell how how I ended up doing it. I'm sure everyone can also come up with 10 different ways to do it: limit yourself to posting one way--the best, safest, and most efficient way you can come up with. The wood I'm working with is maple.

You need four of them and as you can tell from the drawing, they're not very large. Attached is the sketchup file if that helps you illustrate what you'd do. Any tools--hand or powered--are fair game, except for CNC :). Multiple pieces are fine. Bonus points if you can roundover the edges too (I didn't do that in the sketchup drawing).

[Rick Fisher]

Make it as one big square, router out the center, clean up the corners with a chisel. ???

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I'm with Rick. I'd take a block of wood slightly larger than needed. Make a jig for the router. Route out the middle. Trim to width and length with a CMS and use a chisel to square up the corners.

[Dewey Torres]

I would use the same technique as described above but make the dimensions such that you could cut it into fourths and yield 4 pieces at once. Please forgive my sketchup skills:

[Frank Drew]

Dewey,

Unless I'm mistaken, I think that's what Rick and Ken intended -- to make it as one piece and then cut it into quarters, which seems the most reasonable approach.

[Jack Camillo]

I would glue 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick stock together into a walled square and cut into quarters. otherwise you have 1/4 inch thick walls of end grain.

[John Eaton]

What Rick and Ken describe but using UHML plastic instead of wood.

-- John

[John Keeton]

I would use 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" block (1/2" thick) on the bottom, banded with mitered 1/4" thick stock that is 1 1/16" wide, applied as a wrap and avoid all of the machining. This would also avoid endgrain.

You could even build this up a little larger and trim to size after the glue up.

[Matt Hutchinson]

Well, I think I might prefer the grain to parallel to the table surface. I think I might make a long 'L' shaped piece. Then cut off mitered pieces, glue them together to make the corners, and strenthen the joint with a circular wafer a la Charles Neil. Go to his video website that he recently posted, and check out the mitered corners video.

This method doesn't seem too farfetched, and it will make a really nice end product.

Hutch

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Make it as a glue up.

[Brent Smith]

Another vote for a glue up with mitered corners.

[Dewey Torres]

Dewey,

Unless I'm mistaken, I think that's what Rick and Ken intended -- to make it as one piece and then cut it into quarters, which seems the most reasonable approach.

When ken says "trim to length" it sounds like a different approach.
Rick was prob saying the same thing I said now that I look back:confused:

[Peter Quinn]

I'd go with one block 1/2" X 1 1/2" X 1 1/2", two corners mitered, and two pieces 1/4" X 1 1/2" X 1 1/6", one edge and one end mitered.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

When ken says "trim to length" it sounds like a different approach.
Rick was prob saying the same thing I said now that I look back:confused:

Dewey,

We meant the same thing but .......I was doing 1 at a time and using an oversize block just because my fat fingers find it easier to work with larger things and cut them down to size.:o

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Make it as a glueup being a fairly long piece. Cut equal length pieces with a miter saw so they have 45 degree ends. Put them together like a picture frame so you could get considerable and even pressure to make it, then cut off corner pieces in the length you want.