Lock Miter and Drawer Lock Router Bits

[Chris Jenkins]

Tonight I decided to give my lock miter bit a try that I bought some time back as I am not getting the results I wanted with miters on the TS. So I play and play and play and I just can NOT get this to work in the half inch material.

Swearing that I have used setup before I go upstairs and open up a drawer in the nightstand to find out, I used a Drawer locking bit and NOT a lock miter bit... Then it occurs to me! I bought a lock miter bit that is for 3/4" material, not 1/2."

I'm making a jewerly box using some 1/2" Quarter Sawn Curly Maple and I want to let the grain wrap around real nice (3 sides that is). Any ideas on what type of joint I can go with? Can I use the drawer lock bit in place of the lock miter?

Thanks,

Chris

[Mack Cameron]

Hi Kevin; I love the drawer lock bit. I usually use it to join the front or back stiles of a blanket chest to the side stiles. In this case the grains of the wood are running vertically, and the joint is for all intents and purposes hidden.

The problem you will find with your jewelry box, I'm assuming the grain is running horizontally, is there will be some end grain showing on the sides. You won't get the feature you are attempting to get i.e. the grain wrapping around the corners.

[George Matthews]

Chris
I have recently used the Lee Valley 3/4 Lock Mitre Bit on 1/2 Russian Ply.
It was a hastle to setup, but the instructions with the bit made that possible.
Centering the bit on the material is the proper method.

It is absolutely necessary to use a block to carry the piece as the bit cuts to the tip of the board leaving nothing for the fence/table to align to. I used a scrap piece of 2x6 pine as a carrier and clamped the drawer side to it. Another piece of scrap was used to hold the piece flush with the table/fence. The results were great and the glue-up was painless.

I had some tear-out on cross grain cuts, but eliminated that with a shallow knife score along the cut line.

In the listing you will see 'Instr' click on it for detailed instructions.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...,46174&p=30119