# How to cut angles (bevels) without a table saw



## hornpipe2

I need to cut angled edges in a thin (1/4" thick) piece of plywood, to assemble into miter joints for a box. I don't have a table saw. Is there a way to do this with any kind of handheld or hand-power tool?


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## woodnthings

*2 ways come to mind*

A hand plane in a jig or sled that will keep a true 45 degree angle. A "shooting board" sorta thing. BUT you'll need to make bevels to get bevels.....
The other way would be a 45 degree chamfer bit in a router table. A hand held router can easily mounted upside down in a larger piece of Melamine or MDF or ply to create a router table and rest it over a open ended box. It won't take a lot of power for that operation, so a small trim router would work.
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A hand plane and some accurate sanding may prove to be the quickest and cheapest. Accurate layout is a must to keep the seams invisible. You did not say how wide the material is, but 4" to 6" is what comes to mind and that is doable. Practice on scraps first.


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## cabinetman

hornpipe2 said:


> I need to cut angled edges in a thin (1/4" thick) piece of plywood, to assemble into miter joints for a box. I don't have a table saw. Is there a way to do this with any kind of handheld or hand-power tool?









 
If this is a one time project and there's no need for power tools, your best bet might be to take the material to a cabinet shop and let them cut it. 

If, you plan on more of these, or will indulge yourself more into the craft, you may enjoy doing them yourself. A small table saw may be what you would need. 









 







.


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## firemedic

What's the size of the ply? In other words how long is the bevel? 

I think the hand plane would be your best route. In all honesty the table saw would be faster but a plane a donkey eared chute shooting (choot chute) board would be much more accurate for making repeated bevels like this.

I do have to ask for some more detail too though. Why a miter? Would other joints work better? Maybe a rabbit and groove/dado?

...build n burn - live n learn...


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## hornpipe2

Thanks for the tips. The hand planer + jig sounds like a great solution.

EDIT: For more info, the material is 1/4" thick plywood, and the top board measures 454.5mm x 424.2mm. Sides are 151.5mm tall.

I'm building a game board (short table) for playing Go. It's miter jointed on the top and butt joints on the non-visible bottom portion... I don't have any real joinery tools, and want to see only faces (no plywood edges) on the outside - so it looks like seamless grain all over.


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