To make the last corner fit, don’t rely on four nominal 45-degree cuts alone. Rough-cut the hardwood edging, refine the miters on a shooting board until the inside corners fit the panel, then glue the edging in place and trim the excess from the outside. This inside-first approach leaves room to correct the visible joint where the trim meets the panel while keeping extra material for clamping and final sizing.
Why the last miter may not fit
A saw set to 45 degrees is a starting point, not a guarantee that four pieces will close around a panel. Small differences in the saw’s angle or in how a piece seats can accumulate at the final corner. The practical fix is to check the actual pieces against the panel and make fine adjustments after the rough cuts.
The inside-out method deliberately prioritizes the fit at the panel’s inside edge. The outside edges begin oversized and are trimmed after glue-up, when the inside joint is no longer easy to alter.
Plan the trim allowance
Start with edging wider than its finished dimension. In John Olson’s WOOD Magazine example, a 9-inch panel receives 3/4-inch trim on each side, making the finished width 10 1/2 inches. The trim begins oversized so it can be held and clamped, then trimmed to final size once attached.
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Make sure the stock’s edge that contacts the panel is straight and square. If that edge bows or rocks against the panel, clamping can force the work out of position and undermine the fit.
Cut and tune the miters
- Make rough cuts. Use a miter saw to cut each piece close to the line. Olson adds a sacrificial piece to the saw table to create a zero-clearance surface and make the blade’s cut location easier to see. Check the saw angle rather than assuming the 45-degree setting is exact.
- Refine each mating edge. Use a shooting board and miter plane to remove controlled shavings. Bring the workpiece up to the plane’s sole, take a shaving, then advance the stock for the next pass. Olson describes shavings of about 0.002–0.003 inch in his setup; this is an example of a fine adjustment, not a required depth for every plane or wood.
- Test the fit on the panel. Place the pieces against the panel and check the inside corner. Adjust the shooting-board fence in small increments until the joint closes tightly. If the fence does not adjust, folded copier paper can serve as a shim.
Dry-fit, glue and trim the outside
- Dry-fit the assembly. Use mitered setup blocks to help mark and hold the trim in position. Confirm that the edges sit against the panel without being forced and that the inside corner is tight.
- Glue and clamp the trim to the panel. Keep the inside fit as the priority: after glue-up, correcting that edge is difficult, while the outside remains accessible.
- Bring the outside to final size. Trim away the excess with a table saw or plane. If planing, take light shavings and check the dimension as you go.
If the panel edge will have molding
Apply the same sequence to the hardwood edging: fit and trim the edging to size first, then rout its profile. This keeps the sizing and inside-corner fit work ahead of the molding operation.
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- Miter saw: makes the quick rough cuts.
- Sacrificial saw-table piece: provides a zero-clearance surface and helps indicate the blade’s cut location.
- Shooting board and miter plane: let you refine the mating edges with controlled shavings after sawing.
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When choosing or setting up a shooting board, the useful questions are whether its fence can be adjusted or shimmed, how securely the work is held and advanced, and whether the trim has enough extra width for clamping and final trimming. Olson’s tutorial describes the workflow; it does not compare or rank tool brands.
John Olson, WOOD Design Editor, describes the inside-edge advantage this way: “And that’s where trimming the inside edge really comes in handy, because if you are short, you can bring it up, fit this edge to whatever it needs to be, and then fit this mitered corner to whatever it needs to be.” The instruction is about adjusting the fit to the actual panel, not relying on a nominal saw setting.
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Read John Olson’s WOOD Magazine tutorial, “How To Make Perfect Inside Out Mitered Corners” (first published October 17, 2019; updated October 15, 2024).
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