WOOD Magazine – October 01, 2019

54 WOOD magazine October 2019

Square up the ends of the grooves with a chisel, or round the ends of the splines

and glue them in place. We sized ours to stand^1 ∕ 16 " proud of the frame.

Move the frame until the right frame mark aligns with the right fence mark. Shut
off the router and wait for the bit to stop before removing the frame.

Mark start and stop points for each groove on the back face of the frame. Align

the left frame mark with the left fence mark, and, with the frame against the

fence, carefully lower the frame onto the spinning bit.

Set a straight bit^1 ∕ 4 " above the table. Mark the edges of the bit onto the fence.

Then move the fence back the desired distance to position the slot. (We centered

ours on the width of the frame pieces.)

Inset a round spline on the rear face by drilling a^1 ∕ 4 "-deep recess across the

joint with a Forstner bit. Use a holesaw without the pilot bit to cut a disc from^1 ∕ 4 "

material and glue the spline in place.

Splines bridge the joint, providing face-

grain glue surface. This approach can be

purely functional and hidden on the back of

the frame [Photo D], or used as an accent on

the front [Photos E–H].

D

E F

G H