Box Corner Joint Alternatives

The box joint appeals the most. Simple is good but, not a fan of dowel joints.

Gene Howe said:

...not a fan of dowel joints.

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I just don't care for them either. However, making a frame for shade cloth, using 24 inch lap joint, I did drop several dowels through the joint to add a little reinforcement.

Thanks Gene. I personally have no preference until I know what the box will be used for. My goal for this sample was to keep the 4 joints looking like traditional joints until further inspection. I did a similar box a few years back, but the variations were more obviously CNC versions and less useful as samples for students who weren't in my particular class sections. Two other professors I work with never both with the CNCs and always have their students do the 4 corners more traditionally (no CNC). That first CNC-cut sample disappeared when we moved from a temporary shop into our new fabrication lab.

4D

Those are interesting 4D. If there was only one corner joint it would get pretty boring to look at so variations are always welcome. I can imagine jigs to make those by hand but they would be time consuming to make and get the fit right. A CNC certainly takes a lot of the pain in doing that away (at a price of course). I have to agree with Gene that the doweled version is one I wouldn't be interested in but a through tenon joint might be something I would want to try.

The dowel version is essentially 3 through tenons cut in the end grain of the joining board. Using the CNC I could have stretched them, made them triangular, done a zig-zag row of short tenons, etc.. I made them look like wood plugs (or hardwood dowels) when assembled because that is how we originally asked the students to reinforce/strengthen the shallow rabbet joint. In the future I may scrap that joint and replace it with a simple dovetail row. Through or half blind.

4D

I like them all, but then I like to go slightly outside the box when it makes sense. I've yet to do any joinery on the CNC but one of these days I'll give it a whirl. Looks like fun!

David

4DThinker said:

The dowel version is essentially 3 through tenons cut in the end grain of the joining board. Using the CNC I could have stretched them, made them triangular, done a zig-zag row of short tenons, etc.. I made them look like wood plugs (or hardwood dowels) when assembled because that is how we originally asked the students to reinforce/strengthen the shallow rabbet joint. In the future I may scrap that joint and replace it with a simple dovetail row. Through or half blind.

4D

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4D, I love dowel joints. :grin: It is different and I think making something is what it's all about.

hawkeye10 said:

... I think making something is what it's all about.

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Absolutely.

I agree that sometimes I also like to do stuff just to see if it can be done.

I like the pictorial,and the final product, well done. Way above my skill level, but like to see what CNC can do.I think they all would be structurally strong enough for box corners. They make for an unusual effect in the final stage,but indefinably appear machine made. It is great what CNC can do, kind of reminds me of Pat Warners work,only his was not CNC.
Herb

Thanks Herb. If I look hard I may find Pat Warner's Router Joinery Handbook hiding somewhere amongst the clutter in my house. Before we had CNCs to use in our college workshop I often made custom jigs for routers to solve a furniture construction challenge. I'm still doing the same, but my angle clamping jig in a Probotix Meteor CNC (and a few great features in Vectric's CAD/CAM software) are all that is needed. Of course working with wood for the last 45 years make me a bit stubborn about what can and can't be done no matter the tools used.

4D