After some more planning, I decided to have another go at making a picture frame.
Material:
Red Oak
Glue:
Titebond II
Spline Material:
Not sure, all I have is oak (scraps up to 3/4in x 5in x 12in), cherry (1/4in x 8in x 24in), and beech (3/16in x 8in x 24in). None of them will really contrast with the oak.
Other options:
Pocket holes, just glue, forstner hole and dowel.
Thoughts?
Here is progress photo one (cut, glued):
You can use corrugated joint fasteners like these to strength the joint. Just hammer them in on the backside.
How well do those work with oak? I can’t imagine them working with white oak, but even red oak I’d be skeptical until I saw it proven… 
True, haven’t tried them with oak before. Personally I’m a big fan of splines usually.
Corregated fastner… Not!
Glue won’t hold on end grain.
Go with splines. Any of those woods will look ok if you change grain directions. I would do cherry.
A modification of the forstner bit and dowel method could be to use the forstner bit and drill down 1/8"or more and then laser cut some 1/8" plywood circles to match.
No way. Lasers?
Excellent idea. Thoughts on cutting my beech (3/32) with the k40? I have baltic birch at 1/8 as you suggest though.
I can cut up to 1/4" ply with not much problem in a single pass. In my experience cutting plywood is more difficult then pure hardwood, so 3/32" shouldn’t be a problem. When you glue the circles in, just be sure to orient the grain across the joint.
Looking good!
Chrisp, clean joints looks amazing.
What wood species did you use for the spline?
