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Learning a new skill is often a matter of getting past the scary part. If you can reduce the number of things that can go wrong, you become comfortable enough to push past what once seemed an insurmountable obstacle. Miter joints are never a walk in the park, but they don’t have to be a middle-of-the-night trip through the cemetery.

A four-sided frame or box is the usual starting point for mitered joinery. In this scenario, the beginner will likely be frustrated by tiny errors in the degree of angle or the length of the parts. Any errors made will show up in the last joint to be closed.

At this point errors aren’t tiny any more. On a square frame with 12" sides, even with only 1⁄10° of error, the gap at the last corner will still be 1⁄8". The degree of perfection required is obtainable, but there are two other hurdles to overcome for successful mitering.

This I Can Do That project addresses the two problems that can cause even perfectly cut miters to fail: Getting a strong glue joint and clamping the corners together. There is a simple solution for each, and knowing these will make getting perfect corners easier.

Two Sticks, Glue and Packing Tape
One 6' length of 1x2 (actual size 3⁄4" x 11⁄2"), and one 2' length of 1x4 (actual size 3⁄4" x 31⁄2") provide all the material. These were available in red oak at our local home center. Look for the straightest pieces in the pile. If you don’t have yellow wood glue at home, pick up a small bottle before you leave the store. And while you’re there, purchase a roll of clear packing tape.

Begin by cutting two pieces of 1x2 to 22-5⁄8" long. This length isn’t critical, but both pieces should be the same length, and both should have two square ends. Sometimes the material you buy has a ragged end, so I usually cut 1⁄4" or so off the end of a new piece to make sure it’s square and clean.

Make a mark on the edge of one of these pieces that’s 41⁄2" from the end, and with your combination square draw a line at a 45° angle back toward the end. Only mark one piece –...