Okay, I’m gonna be honest….i was just about to “X” out when you said, if it doesn’t work, you’ve got a good start on a bird house!!🤣🤣 Your off the cuff wit and humor interacting with your camera lady, told me I gotta see more of your stuff! Nice way to think outside the “box”!😉🤣

I made a similar box a couple years ago when I had to lengthen a 4x4 porch rail post that was already set in concrete. The post was very visible and I needed a near perfect joint. I made the box a good fit but slightly larger than the 4x4 using perfect square and flat 1 1/4” lumber. I only used deck screws to hold butt joints together on 3 sides making a U shape. The last side only had 2 screws near the bottom of the channel so it would flip flop and the jig could be clamped to grab the post. First, I set the jig low and used it as a guide for a circular saw to nearly square cut the post on 4 sides. Then checked for square and moved the jig up to finish the surface with a router. It worked! That was half the problem solved. I had already made a perfect grain matching square patch piece in the shop and tested my cutting method on scrap. The patch was counter bored and drilled for 6” screws on a drill press. The piece was carefully attached using the 4 long screws and glue. Next day pull the screws and re-drill the screw holes for ½” wood dowels. Anyway….. the U channel and flipping side worked fine for pressure treated lumber. Not sure how well it would do with furniture grade builds.

I think that's a great idea. I'll be off-setting the holes for the clamps. And I'll be placing spacers on the inside of the box so the job isn't touching the inside walls of the box. I can then use my plane to square the top because I don't like the noise and dust that goes with the electrickery router.

Tom knows all about what i am going to say ... You can do this square end with a crosscut panel saw. A little practice is all you need. Watching a youtube about how to accurately use a handsaw might help you visualize this. First you mark your square line all around the beam. Then cut to the line. This assumes all 4 sides are true. But then, do does Tom's jig. How do you cut a square cut? When you start the first cut, on the top face of the board, look at the saw blade and make sure sure the reflection of the saw plate lines up with your board. When you saw, make sure your body is such that your shoulder, arm, elbow, and hand are linded up and move like a piston. This means right handers step a little to the rihht, left handerd to the keft. Grip the saw handle somewhat softly. Gripping tightly tends yo cause your hand to twist. When you cut, use the whole blade, and let the weight of the blade do the work. By the way, it can help to use paste wax on your blade, apply it, wait a few minutes, and buff the haze off with a clean cloth or paper towel. Cut your first kerf about an inch down. Watch that the reflection shows the blade stays lined up. Then while sawing start tilting your blade down and work down the face of the board. Be sure to cut to the line here, too. Once about half of that face kerf is about an inch deep, you can rotate the beam and saw so that you get a 1 inch kerf in that face. Keep going all the way around the beam. If you do this correctly, your kerf will be right on the pencil line all the way around. What is kewl here, your saw will now follow the kerf and stay in the cut quite accurately. I'll add that as you get to a corner of the board, if you want, go ahead and saw down deeper on the corner. If you have many boards, Tom's jig will be faster. But if you have one or two, hand sawing is faster. Plus you will have picked up a skill that you can use the rest of your life.

Don't even need the birdhouse holes - just clamp at the bottom. The box is big enough that the fixed head end of the clamp can get shoved up from the bottom, and can fit inside between box and post tightening the clamp against the outside of the box. Brilliant idea - will definitely build one

Great idea and as usual, a lot of fun to watch your videos. It occurred to me, if the post is not too long, you could measure the portion that rises above the bench and vise to be 1/2" short of the jig's height. Then the jig can rest on the bench and vise while you clamp it. You could also clamp a scrap of wood to the post at the right distance from the top and rest the jig on it, clamp the jig and remove the scrap of wood.

That's a great jig. I definitely want to make one. I never realized that cutting end grain with a router was easier on the bit than side grain. Rabbit is an old english word that comes from rebate, as in a recessed cut. Thanks, I'll keep watching.

Thx for the GREAT and simple approach, gets the job done!

I made the same jig several years ago to cut 6x6's to length and used it as a guide for a circular saw. Made good straight cuts and smooth.

Indeed, very helpful jig.

Line the inside of the box with a quarter or half inch ply about one half inch lower than the outside box to create a slight step. That way you won't have to cut into the box to get the corners.

Cool demo, Tom~! I've had this situation a few times and it didn't occur to me to use a router in this fashion. Great idea~! I think I have an upcoming project where this will come in very handy. Thanks for sharing it~!

Simple jig, great video. Love the way you share and teach.😎

Simple genius. ✊🍷🎩🎩🎩🙏

Excellent demonstration, Tom!

That's a pretty slick trick, sonny.

Great ideas! Thanks!

Looking forward to the workbench build.

très bon outil , bravo et merci

We used those boxes for long time to make cross profile reference routing on square posts . Especially stair rails ..clamping is good idea for sure ..

Mabey Florida it’s always sunny most of the time lol thanks for sharing another great video! Mabey Jacksonville

it should have an inner sleeve that stops short of the edge so the router bit stays clear of the box.

I've used a slight variation of this to square up the top a large stump for an anvil.

thank you

I would personally add a 1/4 inch solid wood piece on the inside otherwise you will chew the top of you box with running the router bit right to the edge of your post, and adding 2x t nuts on 2 sides of the box, threaded rod with pads on the end to stop marring of the wood your trying to square up

I love this jig!!!!! To make clamping a bit easier, maybe you could try using opposing wedges to lock the box in place.

Great jig. An angled jig would work for angles other than 90.

I think making a wooden peg/ screw and insert it in to replace the clamps. Overall it’s a great idea 💡, thanks 🙏 ❤

Very nice jig for absolutely squaring large stock. But when does stock that size have to be so perfectly square?

Good idea and good jig but you can cut it with tablsaw

The main requirement is that the top of the sides of the jig be in the same plane. A parallelogram would also work.

18:40 So it doesn't really need 4 sides, 2 sides works just as well

Why don’t you add a rabbit around the inside top edge, maybe 3/4” 25:58 or 1” deep, so as to give your router bit room to cut the entire top of post, since it’s “a lot more effort” for router bit to cut into the long grain edge of wood. Also, you could install threaded inserts into two sides of jig and include threaded tightening knobs to clamp the post in place for routing.

I made a similar jig for cutting 4x4 fence posts. It would allow to use a skilsaw to make all the fence posts the same elevation.

Having trouble getting something square and true? Well let’s start by building a box jig that’s square and true lol

Pourquoi ne pas utiliser une fraise avec roulement cela éviterai de couper le gabarit .

23:08

Put the 4x4 in the enter and add 4 pieces of wood and you won’t cut into the box

And the dad jokes continue!! Yeah!

99

The ultimate squaring jig, 26 minutes long. Kept waiting and watching and waiting. Unfortunately you got me with you "clickbait" title. Thought I might see something useful. Thanks

All that too square ends of wood

Sorry but that is the silliest project I ever seen you do

I used thd dislike because you talk tooooooo much. We are not hanging out. If you have something to say, say it straightforward. I am sorry