Squaring up corners and seamless joinery

[brendeg]

Greets all,

I have a few questions that I need some guidance on. First off, I only have limited access to some tools, but it should be more than enough. I have a table saw, scroll saw, blade runner, compound mitre saw and then hand sanders; alas no planer yet.

I saw no Steve's pattern page that he has a box type hummingbird mantel clock. http://www.stevedgood.com/thehummer.pdf for your reference. In the photos, his joints seem to be almost seamless. I have made a few clocks in that style, but I have yet to figure out how to make the joints appear seamless.

I have ensured my blanks are 100% square, at least to the naked eye and carpenter's squares. I am using 1/2" wood vice 1/4" as prescribed in the pattern, but it shouldn't really matter.  I am using a table saw with an 80 tooth blade to ensure everything is "joint ready" and a good solid fence. I do not have a crosscut sled though, maybe an issue?

Anyone have any pointers?

Thanks

[EIEIO]

Small errors in mating surfaces can be fixed using a mix of sander dust from the same wood and wood glue. Or if the joint is between a light and dark wood, use dust from the dark wood. I was told to squeegee it with an old credit card. You might see a little of that in Steve's 2nd photo where there is a slight color change at the joint between the clock base and the front feet on the front-right side.

You might also look for a belt/disk sander or something like the combination oscillating sander from Ridgid.

https://www.ridgid.com/us/en/oscillating-edge-belt-spindle-sander
The sanding plate is pretty flat so you can make a good flat, square surface. If you leave your cut line on the blank, you can sand back to it to get a very precise size. The sander helps remove material at mils (thousanths of an inch) per pass so you can sneak up on a tight fitting. The oscillating spindle sander is a great help for concave or interior cuts, bowl making, for breaking the sharp edge, or making a chip-looking edge like a flint arrow head.

[Rapid Roger]

In my opinion, You can't do it!
If your parts are cut good and square and you have nice tight glue joints, that is as good as it gets.
You can "help" the joints hide by sanding the outer surfaces after assembly nice and smooth before finishing. And you can help it further by sanding the end grain of the parts to a higher grit of sandpaper so that any stain or finish will take the color closer the color of the face grain. But, if you are butt gluing a box, you will be able to see any joints that are made.
If you are using miter joints and get a bit of a gap in the corners,  you can try filling them with either glue or shellac mixed with sawdust but, it will still be noticeable. If you have fairly tight corners with just a small line of gap, you can run the round shank of a screwdriver down along the corner pressing the wood fibers tighter together before finishing the wood and that is about as close as you are going to get!
I make a LOT of boxes and in most cases, I use miter joints and try to get the wood grain to match up all around the sides as close as I can but, still if you look closely, you can see where I might have patched a gap or two. 

Rog

PS, I'll try to post a picture of a box or two.

[Judy Hunter]

>Ray..... Thanks I ordered mine today.....Merry Christmas to me 

[Rapid Roger]

Here is an example of a box that I made some time ago. It is made of red oak which is one of the harder woods to work with because it splinters easily. These are not miter joints they were just made to look that way.
 I can still see the joints even after using all the tips that I gave you. I wasn't kidding when I said "You can't do it" all you can do is get close.





Or you can go the other way and "high light" the joints!!!





Rog

[Becky]

I have that sander based on a post asking for recommendations.  No complaints but I would add that a friend and co-worker gave me a really great tip for getting those angles just right.  Cut just a tiny bit proud of the pattern line.  Then, if you are using the sander on the cross grain, as you most likely are, grab a metal ruler and cut a score line right on the pattern line with a razor blade or something.  Cut it reasonably deep - 2 or 3 passes - and then remove the pattern.  Then as you sand down to the proper angle, the excess wood will break away when you get there and you know to stop.  I tried it (before learning the tip) and found that the sander didn't remove the pattern paper during the sanding but left it there to flap around so I didn't know when I was in the right spot.  The difference in using the suggestion and not was noticeable in the quality of my final joints.

[Shogun]

Everyone, here is a technique that does help your corner joints appear more seamless...once your glue is dry enough to handle without it falling apart simply take a screwdriver with a round shaft and run it along the edges of your corners using just enough pressure to press the very edges together. It's not 100% fool proof but it works pretty good providing your box is square and you cut your 45 deg. cuts properly.