Beyond The Tree jewelry boxes and music boxes

THE DECORATIVE ACCENTS

The accents of contrasting wood are more than just decorative. Called "slipfeathers", they add considerable strength to the joint. By itself, the 45° miter joint is only a medium strength joint. These small pieces of wood bind the two main pieces together and make the joint much stronger.

Slipfeathers can be made of contrasting wood to add decorative accents while making the joint stronger...	...or they can be made of the same wood to blend with the piece.

I make mine using the table saw. I made a jig to hold the box at 45° and, with the blade set at the proper height - almost, but not quite through to the inside, I just run the box over the table saw.

sawing the slots

Inserts are then glued in place. Once they're dry I sand them flush.

unsanded slipfeathers completed slipfeathers

In the box below the top three slipfeathers are necessary for strength. The bottom two are not really necessary. The box has a Baltic Birch plywood bottom that makes it very solid. These two slipfeathers add a balanced look to the box.

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