miter folding wood countertops
Similar to scoring and folding paper, miter folding is a technique used to continue the face of the wood at a perpendicular angle. In this case, the fold is used to make the appearance of a board thicker than it actually is.
This project called for a 3cm wooden countertop on two separate cabinets. Since the CT leading edge is continuous and mitered at the ends, I decided to miter fold the leading edge boards to 3cm and leave the inside boards at stock thickness (13/16”).
here's the over-all concept after the sawing. the piece on the left becomes the “edge” and the piece on the far right becomes the face, or top, of the countertop. the center portion was cut away and becomes firewood. real good firewood.
keep in mind that, as a general practice, I generally use a track saw for most of my cutting and milling tasks. I also take a minimalist approach to clamps and instead use tape or concealed screws whenever possible to pull joints tight. this folding technique was developed from my personal practices. I’ve used it for years on hardwoods and plywood and have had great results with it.
the first cut sets the miter on the piece that will become the “edge” of the board. the completed board on the left was used to support the rail during the cut.
Now the “face,” or top, of the board and the track are flipped around and mitered. this removes the waste piece, a.k.a. the firewood.
when setting the depth on the tracksaw for small width cuts like this, I often keep the cut just shy of actually cutting all the way through the board. this keeps the connection between the two pieces intact, which helps eliminate piece movement and blade pinching. after the cut, I can easily snap the pieces apart and clean up the remaining material with a block plane.
the reason it's called miter folding is that you fold the pieces together, with glue in the joint, after taping them securely. I like to use regular masking tape (1.88”) as it has a decent amount of flex and holds extremely well. if you ever leave it on too long and it's hard to remove, a heat gun will help.
using masking tape, the edge and face are taped together at the joint. this aligns the boards during the folding process.
block plane to tune the joint prior to glue removes any material left by the tracksaw cut.
the joint is glued, folded and taped in place here, the tape is not only aiding in the alignment during folding, but is also pulling the joint closed.