# Splines for miters



## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

I needed to cut some splines for a Walnut door for a rifle display case I'm building and thought I'd do it on the CNC.

Here's the door with splines before gluing and sanding - 








And here's the video on making this - 





Enjoy!
David


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## ggom (Apr 5, 2017)

Hello!

Accurate work,
But what about the percent of wasted wood , making those splines ?

Regards
Gérard


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

difalkner said:


> I needed to cut some splines for a Walnut door for a rifle display case I'm building and thought I'd do it on the CNC.
> 
> Here's the door with splines before gluing and sanding -
> View attachment 295065
> ...


David those CNC machines are so neat. I may be wrong but I think you could do the same thing with a template and router with an inlay kit. For those of us who don't have a CNC machine we could act like we did. :wink:


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## Semipro (Mar 22, 2013)

Thanks for video Well done


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

'David, I really enjoyed watching the video, great jobs, both of making the video and doing the project. Experimenting and learning from experimenting is the best part of woodworking for me, or least it has been. I suppose that once a person becomes proficient in knowing most of the moves that the learning will not continue to be as interesting.

Would you mind telling me how you were able to post your video on the forum as you did?

I have done a lot of video production work but don't know how to do what you and others have done in regard to the forum.

Jerry


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## BalloonEngineer (Mar 27, 2009)

Beautiful work David, as usual. Did you consider any other shapes, such as a bow tie as often used to control splits in large slab tables, or something a little more ornamental? Based on the location of the rabbet, I am assuming you put them on the back side, and did not make a thru cut. 

I am planning some furniture builds soon, and was planning on using my CNC for cutting some pockets for loose tenons (I have a fixture on one end to hold stock vertically or at angles), but I like this concept. I may adapt it, and actually feature the “tenon”, perhaps in a contrasting wood. 

Thanks for sharing your idea - hope you don’t mind if I adopt it!

Richard


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

Looking good as always!

One thing that it took me awhile to get used to is that when using a CNC to do a job you could have done on some other tool, there is room for improvements that would have been impossible or very difficult to do on the previous tool. 

I helped a student make splines for a very similar project, and just to add a little more locking strength I changed the straight spline to a dovetailed spline. You just have to make sure the shape has both inside and outside radiused corners to permit the bit you use to cut both pockets and splines for an exact fit. Once installed your miter can't pull apart even if the glue fails.

4D


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

ggom said:


> Hello!
> 
> Accurate work,
> But what about the percent of wasted wood , making those splines ?
> ...


Thanks, Gerard! I don't see any wasted wood. I used a 1/8" bit, spaced the splines close together, and will keep the leftover pieces for future projects - inlay, splines, banding, etc.



hawkeye10 said:


> David those CNC machines are so neat. I may be wrong but I think you could do the same thing with a template and router with an inlay kit. For those of us who don't have a CNC machine we could act like we did. :wink:


You very definitely could do that, Don. In my case I would have to make the template so using the CNC was a natural choice.



Jerry Bowen said:


> 'David, I really enjoyed watching the video, great jobs, both of making the video and doing the project. Experimenting and learning from experimenting is the best part of woodworking for me, or least it has been. I suppose that once a person becomes proficient in knowing most of the moves that the learning will not continue to be as interesting.
> 
> Would you mind telling me how you were able to post your video on the forum as you did?
> 
> ...


Thanks, Jerry! I agree, this wasn't anything new but represents the first time I've done anything like it so I shot the video. I'll be doing more of these but probably won't even take a photo - won't be new stuff.

As for posting video, this particular forum makes it easy if you're posting a YouTube link. All you do is paste the full URL in this window and the forum software does the rest. Some forums make it more difficult but this one is easy.



BalloonEngineer said:


> Beautiful work David, as usual. Did you consider any other shapes, such as a bow tie as often used to control splits in large slab tables, or something a little more ornamental? Based on the location of the rabbet, I am assuming you put them on the back side, and did not make a thru cut.
> 
> I am planning some furniture builds soon, and was planning on using my CNC for cutting some pockets for loose tenons (I have a fixture on one end to hold stock vertically or at angles), but I like this concept. I may adapt it, and actually feature the “tenon”, perhaps in a contrasting wood.
> 
> ...


Thanks, Richard! I did consider other shapes but in the end decided to keep it simple. This is a display case and the door will rarely be opened. Yes, they are on the back side. Adopt away!



4DThinker said:


> Looking good as always!
> 
> One thing that it took me awhile to get used to is that when using a CNC to do a job you could have done on some other tool, there is room for improvements that would have been impossible or very difficult to do on the previous tool.
> 
> ...


Thanks, 4D! I considered butterfly splines and also .45 bullet shaped since this is a Henry .45 rifle. But simple won out in the end.

David


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

VERY impressive as is the video.


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

An impressive way to do it. I don't have a CNC, so I need to resort to other methods.

When I want splines I usually want them very thick, like just one saw kerf thick. I found the best way for me was to use a tenon jig on my table saw and adjust it so that I got a one blade thickness spline off of each side of a board that's placed on end in the tenon jig. I make a cut, turn the board over and make the second spline on the opposite surface to the board, Then swap ends of the board and make two more splines. Then I take the board to my miter saw and with a stop set up to make the splines the correct width, I chop them off of both ends to the board. Then I go back to the table saw and tenon jig and make four more. Since the splines are actually the normal waste from cutting tenons, the resulting tenons made each time are cut off with the miter saw and become waste.
I've had very good results making very accurate thickness cross grain splines that are just one saw blade thickness thick this way. My latest were 0.185" thick to use in 0.187" saw kerfs and made from mahogany..

Charley


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

CharleyL said:


> An impressive way to do it. I don't have a CNC, so I need to resort to other methods.
> 
> When I want splines I usually want them very thick, like just one saw kerf thick. I found the best way for me was to use a tenon jig on my table saw and adjust it so that I got a one blade thickness spline off of each side of a board that's placed on end in the tenon jig. I make a cut, turn the board over and make the second spline on the opposite surface to the board, Then swap ends of the board and make two more splines. Then I take the board to my miter saw and with a stop set up to make the splines the correct width, I chop them off of both ends to the board. Then I go back to the table saw and tenon jig and make four more. Since the splines are actually the normal waste from cutting tenons, the resulting tenons made each time are cut off with the miter saw and become waste.
> I've had very good results making very accurate thickness cross grain splines that are just one saw blade thickness thick this way. My latest were 0.185" thick to use in 0.187" saw kerfs and made from mahogany..
> ...


This is how I make splines.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

bump


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