I did get the finger joints cut last night after all and still had time enough to shovel snow.

These pictures are dry fit. The joints are good. I’m very happy with the outcome. My very first box joint box! Yay!

If you zoom in and see a sloppy fit it’s because the boards are a little bowed from an imperfect glue up. The joints came together nicely when clamped.

One issue I had was a lot of tear out when cutting the finger joints. I used a backing when making the cuts, but because of the bowing it was hard to push the pieces together tight enough to make the backing useful in preventing tear out. I have lots of sawdust, though. I think I will mix it with ca glue for repairs. It’s not the end of the world.

We’re going to round over the joints after assembly. I’m going to do this with the sander because I’m afraid using a router will destroy it with really bad tear out.

My buddy is going to pick up some more maple today and we’re going to make an inset fascia that gets rabbeted in. This will act as a “back” and hold it together nicely. I think this will be a lot sturdier than I originally imagined.