Splines, who uses them

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Splines, who uses them

Post by +Rafe+ »

Hi all,

Keen for peoples view / experience...

I have been thinking about purchasing a small table saw (something like - DeWalt 210mm 1700W Compact Table Saw 110V) with the intension to use to make splines.

I have a theoretical understanding of creating spines and the need to create a jig but would be grateful for insight from those who use splines and the example of the table saw I am looking at.


Thanks as always
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by JFeig »

Jerome Feig CPF®
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by +Rafe+ »

Thanks for the video post. I am familiar with this one and a few others.

I think what I’m asking is if I can crest splines accurately on a portable / smaller table saw like the one I mention. Or, like in the video a bigger machine is needed.

Thanks
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by prospero »

I've never done splines, but I'm thinking the hard part is making the inserts. You would need to have a supply of
stripwood that is the same width as the saw kerf. You would need a quite critical thickness. Not loose and not too tight. :roll:
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by Not your average framer »

I do them sometimes, but they are not as quick and easy as you might think. Customers buy them, because the look a bit special and they are quite popular. I've only ever done them as ready made frames. There is a bit of difficulty cutting the splines to be a nice accurate fit in to the saw cuts, as most framers are making these to be an attractive presentation feature, any slight errors can spoil the desired for effect and stand out like a sore thumb. I've not been able to obtain any ready finished to size lengths of wood, which are an ideal size for the splines, so it comes down to cutting them yourself and it's a lot of fiddling about to get the saw and blade and the rip fence set right. The fence needs to be completely parallel to the blade and near enough, does not always do it. I've got a set of engineering feeler gauges and use these to get it exact, even then getting the saw to cut perfectly parallel strips take a bit of seriously careful attention to what you are doing while you cut the spline strips.

You also don't want to be hanging around too much when gluing the spines in place, as the glue causes the splice to expand enough to stop them going in all the way. I make my saw cuts to be the thickness of a single saw cut, trying to widen it out but making a second cut is a risky business and can mean that both sides of the cut are not completely parallel. If you are unlucky, it can be a lot of fiddling around for a less neat looking result. Making the jig to cut the saw cut in exactly the right position is relatively straight forward but each frame need to be accurately clamped in to exactly the correct position in the jig and there's not much room for using a normal clamp to do this. I have a bench top band saw and cut wooden wedges that can be tapped into position to lock each frame into the jig. There is a thin piece of wood which runs between the jig and the fence which sets distance between the two spline positions, it is only in place for the second spline position, not the first.

The wood grain in the spline needs to run across the two halves of the mitre joint to provide any worthwhile strength. I trim down the exposed bits of the spline almost flush on the band saw and then sand down the spline to flush on my bench top belt sander. The direction of the sanding belt is quite important to prevent any break out from the edge of the spline and you definitely don't want a course sanding belt, a nice new fine sanding belt works the best. I have a set of spring mitre clamps with sharp points on the end on the springs and these clamp the mitres together very nicely. Unfortunately there are only four sets of mitre clamps in the set and each set is for a different size, so I does take a while to glue a batch of frames. After trimming and sanding the splines, I like to use a slightly darker stain than the wood I am using and the exposed end grain soaks up more stain than the straight grain of the side lengths of the frame and this adds a bit of contrast to the splines which now will look darker.

Once the stain has soaked into the edges of the spline, you can wipe off any excess stain and the stain which has soaked in to the ends of the splines will remain in the end grain, creating that darker contrasting look. If you are expecting splined frames to be quick and easy to make, this is not what i have found them to be. However they really look great when finished and I do them, because I love the finished result. I really should buy a few band clamps, to help me to speed up the production process, but I have not yet got around to doing anything about this. Splined frames, box jointed frames and slicing up bits of mouldings were a large part of my thinking in why i decided to buy a tables saw. I would strongly suggest that you buy one with a decent diameter of blade, as the full cutting depth of the smaller table saws is a bit limited. I also like the fact that it is much easier to obtain saw blades with a greater tooth count for many of the larger bladed table saws. I have not done this yet, but I am thinking about cutting any future splines on my sliding mitre saw as I will be able to feed the wood through and against a stop block, clamped to the out goinging fence. This means turning the wood around so that the grain is actually at 90 degrees to the fence, so the sliding mire saw is cutting with the grain, instead of the more usually cutting against the grain, but I see no reason why this should not work.

My sliding mitre saw has a maximum cutting width of 14 inches, so this is hopefully quite a practical possibility. I also like the fact that my slidinf mitre saw is able to til the blade in both the horizontal plane and the vertical plane. These capabilities, together will the sliding capability suggest to me that I can also use my sliding mitre saw to a limited extent as a substitute for a radial arm saw. This has interesting possibilities for producing strut back and shaping the necessary struts for these. I don't know how much of what I currently do, I would still be doing with out my band saw, table saw and sliding mitre saw, they are such an important part of my business and I thoroughly recommend them as just so useful to a picture framer. May I also recommend looking at some of the many videos about table saw safety as these can be extremely dangerous to those who don't know how to keep themselves safe. Stay safe is not just about keeping your fingers away from the blade, there's a lot more to it than just that!
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by Not your average framer »

The bottom of my jig runs in contact with the table saw's flat surface, which allows the saw to pass through the back of the jig to aviod break out at the end of the saw cut for the spline. At least that's the theory. Whether it makes much difference, or not is something which I don't actually know, but this seemed a good idea at the time. My jig does not straddle the rip fence, it just get pushed against the fence surface by two stacked feather boards.

There is a large block of wood at the rear of the jig and the blade exists in to this block of wood , instead of exposing the revolving teeth on the blade. There is also a solid stop block, which stops any further movement when this hits the edge of the table so that the saw blade cannot emerge from within the wooden block. When I get around to it I want to drill a hole in to this block to take a vacuum hose as well.
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by Woodypk »

I use splines almost every time in my hardwood frames. If its supposed to be part of the design, ill use a contrasting wood. If not, ill use the same species.

If you're going to do splines, a table saw is a perfect way to do them if you make a jig. You'll also want a flat bottom grooving blade otherwise you'll end up with two little gaps if you use an ATB (alternate top bevel) blade and it won't look half as neat.

I then trim with a flush cut saw, paring chisel and sand flush. As mentioned. Its critical that you're gentle with the trimming as blowing out the corners is very easy.
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by Not your average framer »

If you can display two identical frames in your shop window as a pair, it is often not that difficult to sell both at the same time. A suitable discount for buying two will often sweeten the deal and secure the sale. I don't have a flat topped saw blade, but any visible gap between the end of the saw cut slot and the end of the spline is not very obvious.

I like to use a stain varnish first and then do any filling afterwards. I have an old tin full of solid bees wax pellets and I slice a small piece of bees wax off with a knife and press it in to any slight gap and melt it with my hot air gun and press the bees wax in a bit more. I then heat the bees wax a little more and allow it to set a little and remove the excess wax with a green nylon pan shiner. Too much effort tidying up afterwards, seems counter productive.
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by JFeig »

I always had an American standard table saw. A Sears contractors 10" with an aftermarket accurate fence.

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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by Not your average framer »

I'm guessing that ready made frames with splined mitres might be an extra sales item, which will be add a little extra income during the difficult times ahead. They also sell splined corner ready made frames in John Lewis with a pretty good price tag on them. I think that we could put a very good margin on these too. They are quite a special item and the price charged should reflect this.
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by baughen »

If you don't want to make a jig Rockler make a Router Table Spline Jig. https://www.rockler.com/rockler-router-table-spline-jig It is sold in the UK and if you look around you can get it at a discount price. There are a number of reviews on You Tube.
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by +Rafe+ »

Thanks for all the detailed replies. It’s really helpful to get the broad view.

Interesting to know about the Rockler jig for a router table. It’s another good option to consider but alas with a small studio space the table saw would be better in that it will allow me to cut the spline inserts.

Thanks for the blade tip Woodypk that makes sense.

Can I ask do you have any tips for accurately cutting the spline inserts, do you use a different jig or is it a matter of using setting on the saw table.

Thanks again all, happy Friday and have a good weekend.
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by Not your average framer »

I don't think that every one is necessarily using exactly the same way of doing this, or even exactly the same sort of jig. I like to clamp each corner of the frame into the jig once an for the position of the next spline I add a spacer between the jig and the fence. This probably saves a bit of time, or at least that is what I am thinking. I would probably be better the have the jig positioned by the mitre gauge groove on the bed of the saw, but my saw has a pressed out steel top plate and there are not proper sides to the mitre gauge groove, so it's going to cause wear on the wooden runner on the under side of the jig. Also to use the mitre gauge groove, I would need to reposition the frame in the jig for cutting the saw cut for more than one spine per corner.

My preference has always been to use a table saw for this task and not a router, because there is much less set up time. Cutting really accurate widths of splines can be a bit of a PITA. Making splines frame always seems to me to be quite a time consuming process and customers who want to negociate a lower price are not going to be getting a deal any time soon. There are times when I wonder if the added sale potential really makes enough sense. Splined frames are not really something which can be bashed out quickly, but I guess that I mostly just like the look and the fact that they are a very distinctive item, which people notice.
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by Woodypk »

Rafe,

If you have a table saw, I would recommend making one of two jigs.

One that rides on the fence with two \ / pieces of wood glued to it at 45 degrees to allow the corner of the frame point directly down towards the table.

The other is a 45 degree 'sled' that actually sits on the table and doesn't ride on the fence but against it and is pushed through the saw, using the fence setting distance to set the inset length of the splines.

To set the depth of the saw blade cut into the corner of the frame, simply sit your frame in whichever jig you choose to make and raise the blade and push your frame up to it and take the measurement. Raise or lower the blade for the desired height, being careful not to cut through to the rebated side of the blade.

If you're having trouble, I'd be happy to make one and then send you a picture with instructions on how to make your own.
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by Not your average framer »

Neither using a table saw, or a router is completely ideal in every aspect, there are problems. I use a table saw and I'm left with have to accurately cut the spline to the width of my saw blade and getting both sides of the spline to be parallel and the right thickness. I never made a jig for using a router, but there are still difficulties doing it with a router. Whichever way that you do it, it's not totally easy and straight forward.

Splines look great, but doing them is quite demanding. A lot of us still like the idea of doing them. It just takes a bit of times, skill and practice to get the process right. I would suggest it's mostly practice, lots of it. My jig runs along the face of the fence. The alignment to be parallel to the saw blade is adjustable. The alignment of the mitre gauge slot may, or may not be possible, but It is not so easy, so I avoided that one.

Making a spline frame jig is a lot of work. It takes time. There a lot to think about and each frame has to be clamped and glued before cutting the splines, it's not a particulrly quick operation. It's a real bit of one upmanship to be able to make them, but can you charge enough to make them worthwhile? Maybe!
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by Not your average framer »

I think that frames with splines corners look great. I only ever do it on smaller frames, there's not so many customers for bigger frames. It's a bit debatable how profitable they are and I have not really worked that one out out, but there's quite a bit more work making them and there's a significant limit to what the will sell for. However, I think that they look great as a display item. Sales of these are not especially dramatic, much of the times. I made six about two, or three years ago,but I originally started them earlier and I still got three of them.

There was a really big learning curve involved in making them. Mine were made from mostly tulip wood, but I think two were oak and the splines were oak. I don't regret making them as they look great. All of them were one size (8" x 8"). Square ready made frames are usually quite good sellers and the usual shops selling ready made frames don't don't usually stock much when it comes the ready made frames, so I think that is an opening in the market. It certainly works quite well with smaller ready made deep box frames.

Most of my small box frames are made from relatively small left overs, so small sized frames work nicely. Normal sizes like 8" x 10" aren't always possible if the scraps are a bit small and with normal ready made frames anything smaller than 10" x 8" probably won't sell, by the deep box frames will still sell. I used to put the small normal frames in to the pound box. I tried put some in the pound box in plain unfinished wood, but nobody wants them, so I have to give them a coat of stain varnish and hope they sell.

The pound box is useless money, but there are days when you are glad of a few sales from the pound box. Most people who buy from the pound box, buy several frames at a time, so it's not all bad. It might surprise you, but not every day is busy in my shop. I'm more busy in the later part of the week, than the start of the week. A quiet day at the start of the week, especially on a cold day does not generate much enthusiasum, but at least a sale from the pound box helps to raise the spirits a little. Sometimes it's enough to pay for some fish and chips that evening.
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by +Rafe+ »

Thanks again for all the detailed replies, its been really helpful and all advice well noted!

Thank you Woodypk for the offer I will PM if I get a bit lost but think I have it.

I haven't decided yet if I am going to purchase a table saw, i'm still looking at specs.

Thanks again !
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by +Rafe+ »

My journey into splines continues.

I have put the table saw on the back burner for now, frankly I’m too busy to deal with a new bit of gear and learn how it works.

However I am lusting after some fab spline designs I have seen by other framers. In particular the use of a brass splines in a walnut frame…

It looked amazing!

Do any of you creative lot do anything interesting with splines and equally with using metals such as brass as inlays…?

My imagination is way ahead of my skill / experience that’s for sure.

Maybe there are some good books on the subject that you would recommend?

All the best.
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by GeoSpectrum »

Rockler make a spline jig for a table router. I’ve got one somewhere….
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Re: Splines, who uses them

Post by Not your average framer »

Making frames with splined corner would be something which looks great, but will it be financially worth doing? I'm not that sure that it will make enough money to be worthwhile, even though there's something very appealing about doing them.
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