Replies

1. 
   RickL | Mar 05, 2008 12:11am | #1

   People have spleens.  Furniture uses splines. Not sure what you mean for the assembley. Usually with mitered form I put two V sections together then put those together.  <>

1. 
   blewcrowe | Mar 05, 2008 04:14pm | #4

   Hey, mebbe he works with organ donors.

2. 
   DonC | Mar 05, 2008 01:26am | #2

   If you are using solid wood and glueing long grain to long grain, you can forget the splines. It's plenty strong without them. If you are using plywood or MDF, assemble two and then join it to another pair of two. Make sure the solid wood spline's grain runs perpendicular to the grain of the legs OR use baltic birch plywood splines. The baltic birch has several layers of veneer and therefore will be a little stronger than inexpensive plywood.

   You can probably clamp with high tensile strength tape.

3. 
   489tad | Mar 05, 2008 06:49am | #3

   HH,

   Wow, I'm doing the same type of project now.  I tried to use biscuits but the last piece would not go.  All four pieces are pretty uniform so somewhere in cutting the slots I messed up. I gave up on the biscuits  To get the leg glued up I taped the four pieces together and measured the square hole inside the leg.  I made a square piece to fit the hole.  This allowed me to put clamps on and everything pulled together nicely.  That was for the 3' legs.  I have two 6' posts to make the same way.  Somewhere in Fine Woodworking is an article on building legs using four pieces.  It shows how Stickley did it and the author used a lock joint router bit with two jigs on his.   Good luck with yours.

4. 
   ring | Mar 05, 2008 06:54pm | #5

   If your tablesaw cuts an accurate 45° you don't need splines or biscuits or anything else. Lay all 4 pieces flat on their backs and just touching each other over several strips of tape - PVC packing tape will do but stronger stuff is nice. Spread glue on all the joints and then close the "box" using the tape to draw it tight. If you have an ornery place that won't close, clamp it for a moment and wrap that area with more tape. That's really all you need, and this system will give you tighter joints than you will get any other way.

   David Ring

   http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e

5. 
   Spalted | Mar 05, 2008 08:30pm | #6

   I have done many of these glue ups for legs and even carcases too. Use a 45 router bit in a table. I could dial in my table saw blade to cut about 44.95 degrees and it would go together but the router table is way slicker. it seems easier (and safer i might add) to set up the feather boards on my router table too. You shouldn't need splines in solid wood for legs, it's all long grain. Use packing tape or surgical tubing to clamp, if you use f- or bar clamps it is easy to go too far on one side and then push everything out of square. A biscuit joiner should do the job as advertised but i have NEVER been satisfied with a miter or bevel joint that i joined with mine.