Working on some boxes for the kids at Children's Hospital to decorate while in residence.  Thought I'd show the box joint jigs I made a while ago.  While typically jigs for box joints are done on a table saw with a dado blade, or with a router table, they always take a few trials to get to fit right.  These work right without having to reset.

 

Hit the cutoff bin.  Plane a strip down to uniform width and thickness,  cut into short pieces then attach to a thick piece and butt up against an end stop.  Here's just using a piece of 2x4 as the base.  Strips are glued edge to edge and tacked or screwed down.  The inside edge will go not quite to the opposite end

so the bit goes into the middle section.

 

 

Then clamp in your pieces, keeping a uniform edge (e.g., the top) toward the stop and butted up against the keys.  Set a flush-cut router bit so it cuts to the depth needed, just slightly over the thickness of your box pieces.  Route away!

 

 

 

Et voila, perfect fit.  Ready for some sanding.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 20233 yr by kmealy

Been so long since I made finger joints with a jig or rig since I can cut them with my CNC, but I do appreciate a clever approach to the task. Thanks for posting yours.  Last thing I used my CNC for just happened to be finger joints for the drawer on the tool table I've made.

The box sides were 3D cut to accommodate the 8 degree tilt of the legs and the drawer slides mounted to them.

 

13 hours ago, 4DThinker said:

The box sides were 3D cut to accommodate the 8 degree tilt of the legs and the drawer slides mounted to them.

 

What are those strips of end grain on the ends of your drawer 4D?

1 hour ago, Cal said:

 

What are those strips of end grain on the ends of your drawer 4D?

The boards were originally a shelf side with a dado cut for a shelf.  I patched them up with a slice off the end of them.   In use they aren't seen unless you pull the drawer out and look at the backside of the front of it. 

4D