There was a post on here a while ago by a very talented guy(don't remember his name) that did a how to on making splined picture frames. He made a jig for his table saw. I really liked the splined picture frames and was playing around in the garage the other night and decided to try and make a spline jig from scrap laying around. Here is what I came up with, be easy on me! I still have some work to do to it. I also took this chance to get my miter saw dialed in for angles.
So now that I have the jig I'm going to attempt to make a smaller frame for now. My question is what is the best way to get the splines the correct thickness? Most likely will be getting 3/4" thick wood from menards so will have to make it the right thickness. I'm thinking to resaw it on my table saw to two 3/8" minus saw kerf pieces and then run it threw the planner until it's the right thickness to fit the splines? Or is there a better way to do this?
Which is a little less than 1/8", too thin to run through a planer.
They need not be very long so you could just cross cut them from a 1" x 12" cut off using a stop for the length/thickness.
Use an extended fence on your miter gauge and clamp the stop just the right side of the saw kerf on the fence.
I've been playing with splines lately and I don't have a much better answer. I will say that a zero-clearance insert is important to do this safely if not using a sled of some kind. I have been just ripping along my fence, but that requires some trial and error to space things properly and get the correct thickness. If you have a decent fence, this shouldn't be a problem (I don't :laughing.
I've been playing with splines lately and I don't have a much better answer. I will say that a zero-clearance insert is important to do this safely if not using a sled of some kind. I have been just ripping along my fence, but that requires some trial and error to space things properly and get the correct thickness. If you have a decent fence, this shouldn't be a problem (I don't :laughing.
That's another thing I've been meaning to make! Someday I will actually get around to doing some woodworking if I can ever get all these jigs made! But I guess that's half the fun and the best part is most jigs are made from scrap wood laying around so it doesn't cost much at all.
I rip 8' lumber on the table saw (with feather boards and a push shoe) into spline widths of 7/8" to 15/16"., and a thickness of a heavy ¼". I use a block sander to do a few swipes on each wide face to clean up if necessary. I use the same block sander to put a slight chamfer on the sharp outside corners.
I will use either a ¼" slot cutter (with a bearing) or a ¼" straight faced router bit to make the groove. The depth I leave at ½". When I need a spline, I just cut off what's necessary.
You're fancier than I am. I am just using splines that are (conveniently) the thickness of my thin kerf table saw blade. Once I've got a router table set up, though, look out!
Looks like its time to make that sled I've been meaning to.
Thanks for all the advice.
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