# Finger joints and wooden hardware



## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

I've been wanting to try to do some finger joints for a while but having never tried it, I was a little sceptical. I also wanted to try making my own wooden hinges, so this project was a perfect chance to try both. The first finger joint jig that I made was a complete disaster, with broken pieces and awkward operation. I'm sure you can guess where it ended up. :blink:
The second jig was looking promising but at some point in time, it went out of square and made finger joints that were crooked and poor fitting. 
The third time was the charm and by simplifying the jig and sticking to basics, I was able to construct a working jig which produced tight and square finger joints. :yes:
I made the box and then moved on the the hardware. Using compound cutting on my scroll saw, I was able to fashion the hardware for the box. Finished it off with several coats of poly and then coated the interior of the box with flocking. I'm quite pleased with the results and will definitely make more finger joint boxes with wooden hardware. A real learning experience and I had a blast with the entire project. Gotta love learning new techniques. :thumbsup:

The front view of the box.









A view of the hinges.









And finally, the interior. I slipped a little on the adhesive for the flocking, but I'm hoping that I can clean that up once it fully cures.









Thanks for looking.
Ken


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## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

Finger joints are in my future...can you share some pics of your jig?


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

beelzerob said:


> can you share some pics of your jig?


If you like, I can share pics of all three. I just have to take some photos of them. Give me a couple of hours and I'll take care of that.
Ken


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

*Finger joint jig*

Because it was asked for, here it is.

The first one jig was a total disaster. I tried to get fancy by using lock miter joints. That in itself would have been fine, but I had a brain fart and used MDF. The joints broke apart, the jig failed and it ended up in the trash. 









I decided to use plywood for the second jig. My thought was that it was stable and would accept the lock miter joint. (I don't know why I had it in my head to use lock miter joint for the jig. I guess it was the K.I.S.S. theory.....Kenbo Is So Stupid!!!) :blink:
Either way, I cut the pieces, did the lock miter joint and everything looked good. I had some extra pieces of an inlay frame that I used for the bracing and a piece of maple for the runner of the t-slot. 









Everthing looked good, and the jig worked great. But when I checked the finger joints, they were poor fitting and crooked. I turns out that although I check it for square before the glue set, at some point in time it went off square, causing the router bit to cut the fingers on a slight angle. 









On to attempt number 3.


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

For attempt number 3, I took a different approach. I decided to keep it as simple as possible. I made a simple jig which worked in partnership with my miter gauge for my table saw. I used MDF again this time and the indexing pin was made of maple. The jig was simplistic and worked like a charm.

The jig seperated from the miter gauge.









And attached to the miter gauge.









And finally sitting in the t-slot of my router table.









Keep in mind, that I made this jig for making 1/4" finger joints and to be used on my router table. However, the same principles of design and operation apply to bigger finger joint jigs for use on the table saw with a dado blade.
I found a really helpful set of videos on the web. There were a lot of videos, but this guy was fun to watch and he had a simple approach of working. I wasn't a fan of his one-handed router use, but I still got a great introduction to finger joints by watching his videos.
You can watch his videos for free here.
Thanks for looking.
Ken


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## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

Excellent kenbo, thanks! As always, a wealth of highly useful info.


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## Dvoigt (Dec 6, 2007)

I like the finger joint look too. I tried to make several jigs, the one that worked the best was similar to your 3rd attempt, but I still couldn't get a good fit... so I ended up buying a used "professional" jig.


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