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This article is from Issue 68 of Woodcraft Magazine.

Create stronger corners by partnering your tablesaw or router with one of these simple splining jigs

PRIMARY USES

Providing registration and mechanical reinforcement to mitered corners in frames, small boxes, and large cases.

The trouble with a basic miter joint is that it’s more beautiful than brawny. On its own, an end grain-to-end grain glue joint is inherently weak. It needs backup.

Enter the spline. Inserting a strip of wood, plywood, or other material (such as hardboard), into slots cut on the miter’s opposing faces reinforces the joint and helps keep parts aligned during assembly.

These days, the biscuit joiner is the go-to tool for splining, but there are better ways to skin (or spline) the cat. By using your tablesaw or router, you can make full-width splines that can add strength and detail to your design. Investing a little time to make the trio of jigs shown here will expand your joint-making repertoire by enabling you to produce perfect spline slots with either machine.

Making the Cut – Blade or Bit?

Spline slots can be cut with either a blade or bit, but a flat-bottomed cut is essential for a clean-looking joint. Here’s what you’ll need to get started.

Tablesaw: Several manufacturers offer special flat-topped, joinery-grade FTG blades for around $150, but a good ATBR (Alternating Top Bevel with Raker) blade can get the job done for about $70.

Router: Slot-cutting bits range from $30 for a single, fixed-width cutter, to $80 for a multi-cutter set. Cutters are available in widths as thin as 1⁄16', an advantage for small projects. Bearing-guided bits permit you to take the tool to the work, but even with larger bits, the slot depth will max out at 1⁄2'.

Twin-Faced Tablesaw Jig for Splining Frames

When cutting spline slots, a standard tenoning jig is ineffective because it demands that half the slots must be cut with the workpiece’s show face against the jig, and half with it facing away. If the slot isn’t perfectly centered, the spline joint will be misaligned.

Designed to straddle the rip fence, this twin-faced jig ensures perfect slot alignment, even when making offset slots. A 4 × 7' hold-down board keeps the workpiece from sliding and serves as a backer when slotting the right-hand miters.

Set up the first slot. Position the right-hand miter against the face panel show face out, and clamp the hold-down to the jig. Slot all of your right-hand miters before changing the setup. (To eliminate the chance of overcutting the slot on the return stroke, remove the workpiece before retracting the jig.)

Block prevents blowout. To set the jig to make the left-hand miter slots, simply turn the jig around on the fence. Positioning the hold-down so that it covers the top end of the slot ensures a clean exit.

Aligned splines. Again with the show face out, cut the slots on the remaining (left-hand) miters. After cutting the slots, cut the spline to fit.

A Simple Sled for Table-Routed Frames

A router table splining sled may not be as versatile as its tablesaw counterpart, but this jig is well suited for smaller workpieces, and easy to knock together when the need arises. Superior to a simple angled pushblock, the plywood base registers against both fences, eliminating the chance of tipping your workpiece into the bit. In addition, the fence-mounted clamp fixes the work against the fence to prevent tearout.

Finish with your left. To ready the jig to rout the left-hand miter slots, rotate the sled and reposition the toggle clamp. The clamp’s vertical locking handle allows you to put clamping pressure closer to the cut.

A Multipurpose Jig for Case Miters

When cutting spline slots on wide case pieces at the tablesaw, you may be able to set the saw blade perpendicular to the face of the miter, lay the work flat on the table, and push the panel over the blade. For smaller pieces however, a jig can be a big help.

What makes this jig worth building is that it can be outfitted to work at the tablesaw or router table. In either operation, the jig registers the workpiece solidly on the face of the miter, instead of on its crushable tip.

Mitering and splining at the tablesaw.

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One big advantage to using this jig at the tablesaw is that it enables you to cut both miters and spline slots without fussing with your blade’s bevel angle.

After mitering, simply flip the stock so that the opposite face rests on the ramp, lower the blade and adjust the rip fence. For strength, position the slot close to the inside edge, or root, of the miter.

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Two ways to rout splines.

With minor modifications, this jig can rout spline slots in both large and small case pieces on the router table. Attaching a stop to the ramp turns the jig into an angled sled. Adding an auxiliary panel to the ramp and clamping the base to the router table creates a chute that can help keep long mitered edges registered against the router table’s fence.

Splines–Simple or Strong?

Woodworkers will agree that a properly-sized spline should fit snugly, while allowing the joint to close completely. How to cut the strips seems to be a source of some debate.

For maximum strength, a spline’s face grain should run perpendicular to the face of the miter. To do this, use a tenoning jig and slice the strips from a piece of stock that’s been dressed flat and squared on both ends. Then, saw them to length using a miter gauge and stopblock.

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To simplify spline making, some settle with ripped strips. Ripped strips offer registration, but they are more likely to snap if roughly handled. If your project requires long splines and you’re pressed for time, consider sizing the slot to fit a plywood spline. If the joint is visible, cap the ends of the slots with solid wood.

I’m working on a new woodworking project that involved cutting through-slots for bolts in a couple of boards. The two boards will act as adjustable arms to hold a dowel handle for a garden cart.

I have cut shorter and narrower slots using a table-mounted router for a coin bank. These bolt slots were considerably longer and 1/4' wide so I was reluctant to use the same technique. I don’t have a plunge router – which would probably be the fastest and easiest way to do this.

Crowd-sourcing ideas

After checking a couple of woodworking forums for ideas – including one where someone trying this on a router table said the board 'shattered' (yikes!) – the general consensus seemed to be todrill out most of the material and clean up the slot later with a coping saw.

That sounded good (and safe) to me.

Since my slot was only 1/4' wide, I decided best approach was to use a 1/4' Forstner bit in a drill press to define the slot and remove most of the material, then clean up the slot with a file and sandpaper.

The shaft on the 1/4' bit was larger than the bit itself so I had to flip the board over to drill all the way through the 3/4' material. It’s probably a good idea to do this anyway to avoid tear-out unless you have a backer board underneath when you’re drilling.

What to do

Drilling

• Mark the centre points for each end of the slot in the blank and use a nail or awl to punch a small hole for orienting the bit.
• Set up the drill press with a Forstner bit the same size as the slot you’re cutting. You’ll need to attach a fence to the drill press table to maintain a straight line as you drill along the length.
• Place the blank against the fence and lower the bit. Adjust the fence and blank so the point of the Forstner bit enters the small punched hole. Clamp the fence in place, slide the blank to the mark at the other end of the slot and check that it’s aligned properly.
• Put a mark on the edge of the board that’s against the fence. Keep this edge against the fence when you flip the board over and drill the other side. This ensures the holes are in line even if your a hair off centre of the board.
• Turn on the drill press and drill the each end hole to define the slot – drilling about two-thirds to three-quarters of the way through the board. After that, just keep drilling holes and moving the work piece along the fence, overlapping holes just enough to keep point of the bit entering new wood. The slot will fill up with shavings which you should clear out if they get in the way.
• Once you’ve drilled the length of the slot, clean it out with a screw driver or something similar. Flip the board over (keeping the same edge against the fence).
• Repeat the process starting with the end holes. It doesn’t matter which direction you work in.

A COUPLE OF NOTES:

• If you’re making a wider slot, you may want to make an additional pass to remove the 'peaks' between holes.
• If you have a mortising chisel & bit you could swap that in once you’ve drilled the end holes.

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Cleaning up the slot

• After the drilling is complete, clean out the shavings with an awl or small screwdriver.
• Clamp the work piece on edge to your bench and use a flat file to remove the high points left between the drilled holes being careful not to hit the rounded ends of the slots.
• Wrap a small piece of sandpaper around a drill bit (smaller than the slot) to sand the ends of the slot.
• After filing off most of the rough surfaces in the slot, wrap some sandpaper around the file and use it to finish cleaning up the slot.

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If the slots were 1/2” wide or more, I probably would have used a jigsaw and straightedge to clean up the slots before sanding.