Miter Box. Figure 135.

Material:

2 pieces, 16" X 3 7/8" X 7/8". 1 piece, 16" X 2 1/2" X 7/8".

This is an important adjunct to a kit of carpenter's tools, for if it is made accurately, a perfect miter may be fashioned by its use. A box of this sort is of course inferior to an iron miter box, but it may be made at any time, while the iron box is unhandy to carry around. A wooden box is accurate only when first made, but it may receive as many new cuts as the size of the box will permit.

Making the box: Joint the edges of the bottom perfectly square, and glue the sides upon them, holding the sides in place, until the glue sets, by means of hand screws. Be sure that when the sides are in their places, their inside angles with the bottom are all perfect right angles. This form of wooden miter box is the most satisfactory, as there is no danger of sawing upon nails.

If it is not practicable to use glue, the sides may be nailed upon the bottom, though the saw will in time cut down to the nails, unless care is used that the cuts are made and the nails driven so that they will clear each other.

Making the cuts: The miter cut for a square miter may be found by the steel square (see Fig. 9), the inside top corner of the back of the box being the line upon which the steel square is placed in marking for the cuts. Any equal figures upon the outside of both the blade and the tongue held to coincide exactly with the top of the inside of the box, as described above, will give the angle. Lines should then be squared with a sharp knife to the bottom of the box upon both the inside and the outside, and cuts made to these lines with a keen, sharp saw, preferably with the one which is to be used in it. The life of a miter box is lengthened if but one saw is used, and that one with a very little set. Trim the ends of the box after it has been made.

Fig. 135. - Wooden Miter Box.