The Wood Cutting Hack That Makes Corner Fitting Easy

If you're a woodworking project fanatic, then you've probably racked up numerous DIY experiences at varying levels of difficulty. It's ever so satisfying to take a few blocks of wood and fashion them into an object that's beautiful, useful, or both. If you're newer to carpentry, an easy project to create is a picture frame, which is even more fun if you also take the photo and pop it inside. There's a super easy wood-cutting hack to join two pieces of wood together into a corner, and it's called a miter joint. 

A miter joint is perfect for any project where you need to create a sharp 90-degree angle: door frames, window frames, tables, and molding. It's an excellent, foundational joint to know about and be able to produce. A picture frame gives you a perfect visual picture of what it looks like — two pieces of wood, each typically cut at 45-degree angles and then usually joined by a nail or a combination of glue and a nail. It's important to note that this joint is only meant for projects that don't have to bear much weight. If there's something disproportionately heavy attached to a miter joint, it could crack or pull the joint apart.

As you're crafting your molding, frame, or other project, you might want to practice your miter joint first. Use two extra pieces of wood that are the same shape and width, or simply saw one longer piece in half. Note that the ends need to be perfectly squared off. To practice, position your two pieces of wood so that they meet at an unobstructed 90-degree corner of a room. The corner of your kitchen counter is perfect.

A miter joint is a sub-type of the inelegantly named butt joint. Place the wood on the left side so that it butts up against the right wall. Push the wood up on the right so it touches the other piece. Using the visible edge of the right-hand piece of wood as a straight edge, draw a line on the left-hand piece of wood, then reverse and draw a line on the right piece of wood. As illustrated in the video above from BHR Roofing on TikTok, use a ruler to draw a line on the "top" of the wood at a 45-degree angle — extend the first line you drew on a slant to the corner of the wood. Then saw off the excess from both pieces. Using an appropriately sized nail and wood glue, connect the pieces to form a perfect 90-degree angle. You most likely have most of the supplies already, but borrow a saw if needed, and pick up nails, glue, and wood at the hardware store.