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shoulder on the back, with a^5 ⁄ 8 "-long lap. I marked the miters
from the intersection of the shoulder and lap, using my knife
and combination square. I sawed outside the lines with a
dovetail saw, the used a shooting board with my block plane
to fi t each joint.
This isn’t as tedious as it sounds. It comes down to marking
clean lines, cutting as close as possible to them, then testing
the fi t. Two pieces of wood against each other will tell you
where to take another swipe or two on the shooting board.
And with the number of joints in this door, there are plenty of
opportunities to practice. By the time you get to the last joint,
you’ll know how to work these joints effi ciently.
The Other End
At the other end of the cross pieces, the mitered corners go
back only to the edge of the rabbet, and a tenon is added.
After marking the cuts in the stiles with a marking gauge and
knife, I put together another simple router jig. I made the jig
to fall inside the layout lines, and nibbled away at the thin
part of the stile with a fl ush trim bit.
This jig served double duty. After routing, I reclamped the
jig directly on the cut lines and used it to guide my chisel in
paring the openings. The other half of the joint was made on
the face of the muntin by fi rst cutting the square shoulder by
hand. Then I used the bandsaw to cut the tenon cheeks.
I carefully made a 45 ̊ cut in the fence of my bench hook,
and used that to guide my saw for the short miter cuts. I left
the mortises a bit wide so that I could move the muntins later-
ally if needed while fi tting. After getting the cheeks to fi t by
fi ling them with a joinery fl oat, I trimmed the mitered edges
with my shoulder plane until they matched the joints in the
stiles.
After fi tting each joint individually, I made a dry-run assem-
bly of the entire door. There were a couple places that needed
tweaking, and I gathered clamps and reviewed my strategy.
A lot of joints needed to come together at once, and I didn’t
want to set myself up to panic in the midst of it.
I gathered my clamps, made some battens to hold the joints
fl at, then got out an acid brush and a bottle of liquid hide
glue. I brushed glue on all of the end-grain surfaces, and al-
lowed the slow-setting glue to wick in. Then I went over the
parts again, and brushed glue on the tenons.
I placed one of the outer stiles on its edge, and began
placing the tenons of the cross pieces. With the four short
muntins in place, I assembled the top and bottom rails to the
central mullion, then placed the rail tenons in the mortises of
the stile. With the door still on edge, the remaining muntins
were placed, followed by the second stile.
I laid the assembly fl at on some blocks on the bench and
began clamping. The major joints, where the top and bottom
rails connect were fi rst. Then I clamped a packing-tape cov-
X marks the spot. The joints in the central mullion meet in the exact center.
A knife cut along the lines will help to guide the saw.Step back and consider. The router jig is mainly to provide a fl at bottom for
the lap joint. Set the fence to keep the bit on the waste side of the saw cuts.Simple setup. Set the fence on the mortiser by lining up the chisel with the
back of the rabbet.On the right side. For the points of the miters to meet, the saw cuts must be
on opposite sides of the lines on each side of the mullion.1 18-27_StickleyMCabinet.indd 21 8 - 27 _StickleyMCabinet.indd 21 3/25/13 9:55 AM 3 / 25 / 13 9 : 55 AM