Reply To: Sliding Dovetail Picture
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@greitzera — a big part of the reason frames are mitered is for decorative purposes. In your last sketch (the one that’s upside down, 20170308_141459.jpg, under the words, “Butted Corners”) you highlight the problem — the inlay will suffer a discontinuity at each corner.
I’m a huge fan of sliding dovetails, and trying to master them myself, so I’m def not trying to discourage you from going down this path, but in case it doesn’t work out to your liking, a more typical option to strengthen mitered corners, while also pulling the joint together more tightly, is with butterflies / aka dovetail keys. You can see it here:
They can go in back to hide them, or in front to emphasize them, and Simon James details the correct method to make them here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-PHg7xR5H0