Reality is Not Square

Don’t you love when you are watching a woodworking show and the case comes together perfectly square with no adjusting at all? The host always gives tips for how to make it square but their work just always falls in place perfectly.

What world do these people live in? I’m pretty happy with my joinery and milling skills but regardless of the effort I put in, it always seems that my case work needs just a little encouragement towards the magic 90 degree mark. Maybe Karma is trying to tell me to design crazy asymmetrical and curving pieces where 90 degrees doesn’t exist.

Until I start to channel Maloof or Esherick I need a little help.
I find the easiest way to correct a case is to insert a known right angle into the inside corners and use clamping pressure to easy the case into alignment. These angles I bought at Rockler years ago have saved my butt more than once but really any shop made angle that is sturdy or even some corner brackets from the home center will do it as long as they scribe a 90 degree angle.

So until your world lines up perfectly and all your joints fits the first time without any adjusting, this tip might make things a little easier.