Jessem 8350

[William A Johnston]

I have read about every thread out on the Net about doweling jigs. I am thinking about getting the Jessem 8350 doweling jig for my personal hobby shop. I want to make a few keepsake/jewelry boxes for the ladies in my family. (1) I know I can do splines to strengthen the mitered corner. But I'm thinking I don't want that look. (2) I'm probably going to build these out of a 3/4" stock more than likely Cherry as I have some already on hand. (3) I'm going to use hide glue as I ordered some and bought a small crock pot for 6 bucks to heat it up. (4) I was thinking about using dowels to strengthen the mitered corner and also for attaching the box bottom and for the lid trim.

My questions are.

Will the Jessem 8350 dowel jig do a dowel in a mitered corner?

Is the rule of thumb the dowel diameter is typically 1/2 the thickness of board stock?

What is the best brand of dowel to use?

Is 3/4" stock to thick or should I plane it down to 1/2"?

Bill

Thanks for any input.

[Ted Derryberry]

Disclaimer, I don't build small boxes. I don't think dowels are the way to go on mitered corners, especially on stock as thin as 1/2". There's just not enough material there to get any kind of depth to the hole. I'd use splines running the length of the miter which wouldn't be seen except on the top and bottom.

[Cary Falk]

I have the 8300 and I would have a hard time doing mitered corners without some extra jigging. From what I have seen of the 8350 I think it would have issue also. Dowels on mitered corners are hard to clamp and get closed up tight.. I would do a blind spline or biscuits. I love biscuits for mitered corners. Don't get me wrong. I love my 8300 but I don't think dowels are the right tool for the job here.

[Jacob Mac]

The dowelmax has a miter jig. Pricey, but it works.

[richard poitras]

The dowelmax has a miter jig. Pricey, but it works.

Also they have a 1/4'' dowel insert for there jig for 1/2'' wood.

[Peter Christensen]

The only time I've ever used dowels on a mitred corner was by drilling from the outside and "nailing" the dowel into the hole, making them a design accent.

I have also set up a plunge router with a small bit and cut slots in the miter to make hidden splines. Did them with two slots so the lid can be cut off after glueing the box together.

My favourite way to make a mitre joint in small boxes is with the little biscuits made by the Ryobi Detail Biscuit Joiner. I think Sears also sold them under their own brand. They weren't popular and disappeared from the market after a while. It will easily cut slots in 1/2" wood and thinner. There is one on Ebay at the moment.

[Nick Decker]

Unless these boxes will be VERY large, I think you'll find 3/4" wood to be too thick and chunky looking. I generally shoot for 1/2" to 9/16". And make sure all the sides are exactly the same thickness, or your miters will be funky looking.

[Ted Derryberry]

I just had to see for myself. If you use a 1/4" dowel 1/2" long in a miter on 1/2" material you have to place it less than 1/16" from the inside of the miter and the ends are less than 1/8" from the outside face. That's not allowing any extra depth to the holes and you only have 1/4" of dowel in each side. Biscuits, or hidden splines if you don't have biscuits that small, would be the way to go.MiterDowel.JPG

[Matt Day]

Looks like Terry figured this one out!

[William A Johnston]

Thanks for all the information.

Ted thanks for taking your time to detail the joint out. I think the long spline is going to be my best option. Plus my least expensive. I built a corner spline jig a couple years ago and have used it many times putting splines in some of the cutting boards I've built just for asthetics with a contrasting wood.

I'll make a jig for the long miter spline and give it a whirl.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Bill

[Chip Byrd]

And old thread, but I wanted to say it was super helpful for me. I was thinking about the same thing. I am going with splines!