Scope Creep is a common term in my line of work. It means someone tells you they want something. So you do the design work and present it. Then they say "well I'd also like for it to be able to do this." So you revise it and they say "well I'd also like to be able to use it on this vehicle as well as the first one." And by the time you get a complete design, the project scope is much larger than the original requirement.
So this shadow box project has creeped and will now include a second one of a different design I'll work on in parallel. The second will be for my mom to display my grandfather's burial flag and military memorabilia. But I wanted to get some feedback on a design question so I decided to add a post to this blog for that purpose.
I started with a simple design like so:
But then I saw Mos' project and switched gears. I came up with this after incorporating some features of his I liked. I tried the base with dovetails but like the miters to match all the miters on the flag part. The bottom will be a display section for his medals and such. But after staring at it a while, I was bothered by the straight lines of the base with all the angles on the top. So I wondered about leaning the sides of the base.
I didn't fully flush this model out like the first but the construction would be the same just with the sides angled in.
I like the angled sides but for some reason, I do not like the miter joints, especially with the angled corners. I know there isn't much weight on top but I think it is because it just looks like it wants to slide apart, which bugs me. Box joints or dovetails would or even just rabeted butt joints would look better to me. The miter joints sort of bug me with the square joints too but not as much.
$0.02
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
With the open design for the bottom, I like the angled sides.
Also, to throw out an option, when I worked on the one for my dad's flag, I brought the sides down and the base fit within that (using 45s, but just placed differently than in your design)
Thanks all! I had a feeling but when I stare at something for a while I'm always concerned my perception gets skewed.
Nathan, I have kinda the same feeling about mitered joints but in this case, I really liked the ones on the flag portion and wanted to be consistent. I may think through mitered box joints. But I've used dovetails and box joints on so much stuff I've given my mom that I'd like to do something a little different. Show her I'm not a one-trick pony 😁 I also like the look with Walnut splines to compliment the Walnut pedestal.
I think that it is more the look from the front than the actual joinery. I just like the look on the left (with or without a rabbet) better than the right. I guess that it is the miter joint itself and it could just be the drawing that makes it stand out and in real wood that probably won't bother me as much. I do like the contrasting splines.
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
I looked online for spline jigs because I've never made one. I was hoping to find some ideas for ones that have the angle adjustable for corners that aren't square but everything I saw had the included angle fixed at 90. Even the Woodpeckers one isn't adjustable for different angles. So I'll have to decide if I use something I have (I'm thinking my tenon jig will work), design/make one that's adjustable, or hand cut them. I'm leaning to just using my tenon jig on the table saw for the straight ones in the top and hand cutting the dovetails. It sure would be nice to just run it over a router bit and know they're all sized exactly the same though. And I already have DT router bits.
I bet the tenoning jig would work for the DT splines. Just need to sort out a couple of guides/templates and stick them to the jig so you can get the angle consistent. I’d imagine one set of guides for the top cuts, and another for the bottom…
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
I made this sliding jig years ago for my table saw fence and have a stop screwed to the right at 90º. You could make something suitable for your router fence and add a stop for whatever angle you decide on. Then use your dovetail bits. You would need a larger stop than what I have to support the wider boards. Heck you could also cut the splines with it if you had a small enough straight router bit, Just change the angle of the stop.
"Duck and Bob would be out doin some farming with funny hats on." chrisstef
