New Real Estate Listings on the North Shore Today – Friday, October 16

New Listings Today – North Shore 29 Towns

Not for nuthin'…. But….. 32 new listings hit the North Shore market in the last 24 hours, across 19 towns.

Top towns: Peabody and Beverly lead with 4 each; Salem and West Newbury each had 3; Saugus, Newburyport, and Swampscott each had 2; Nahant, Danvers, Salisbury, Lynn, Rockport, Middleton, Groveland, Newbury, Topsfield, Gloucester, Amesbury, and Georgetown each had 1.

By property type: Residential 25 · Residential Lease (rentals) 6 · Commercial Sale 1.

The MOAM's take: Peabody and Beverly are tying for the lead today — a solid midweek pulse across 19 towns, with sales inventory still doing most of the work.

Contact Nanepashemet to view these.
Nanepashemet Real Estate Services
Call or text 781-727-6516
jnestor@nanepashemet.com

MOAM Out.

Listing data courtesy of MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN); listings shown are held by various brokerages. Nanepashemet Real Estate Services, MA Broker Lic. 136995-RE-B.

Boston Sports Morning Report — Friday, Oct. 16

Not for nuthin'…. But….. we finally get some Friday night action. Nobody played last night, but the Celts and the B's are both on tonight, so plan your evening and maybe sneak in a nap.

Short version: Celts close out the preseason at Philly at 7, the B's start their California weekend at Anaheim at 10, Ottawa slipped past us for first in the Atlantic, the Pats get the Jets Sunday, and the Sox are home for the winter.

Boston Celtics

• Yesterday: No game (last out: W 114-93 vs Charlotte, preseason, Wed. Oct. 14)
• Tonight (preseason): Fri., Oct. 16, 7:00 PM ET, @ Philadelphia 76ers (NBA TV)
• Regular-season opener: Tue., Oct. 20, 3:00 PM ET, @ Detroit Pistons (NBC, Peacock)
• Home opener: Fri., Oct. 23, 7:00 PM ET, vs New York Knicks (Prime Video)
• Status: 3-0 in the preseason

Last tune-up before it counts. They already handled Philly at the Garden last week, so let's see if they can go 4-0. Then it's a Tuesday afternoon tip in Detroit, so you may need a long lunch.

Boston Bruins

• Yesterday: No game (last out: W 6-3 @ San Jose, Tue. Oct. 13)
• Tonight: Fri., Oct. 16, 10:00 PM ET, @ Anaheim (NESN, ESPN+)
• Next: Sat., Oct. 17, 9:00 PM ET, @ Los Angeles (NESN, ESPN+)
• Standings: 5-2-0, 10 points, 2nd in the Atlantic (2 points behind Ottawa with a game in hand), 4th in the East, won 3 straight

Ottawa beat the Islanders 2-1 in a shootout last night and jumped to 12 points, and Tampa and Florida both won in OT to tie us at 10. Crowded up top. A win in Anaheim tonight gets the B's right back in it. Late puck drop, so put the coffee on.

New England Patriots

• Yesterday / Today: No game
• Next: Sun., Oct. 18, 1:00 PM ET, vs New York Jets (home, CBS)
• Then: Thu., Oct. 22, 8:15 PM ET, @ Chicago (Prime Video)
• Standings: 3-2, 2nd in the AFC East, 1 game behind Buffalo (4-1), No. 5 seed in the AFC right now, won 2 straight

Jets come to Foxborough Sunday. Take care of business, then a quick turnaround for Thursday night in Chicago.

Boston Red Sox

• Yesterday / Today: No games, season over
• Next: 2027 spring training (ESPN has Feb. 20 at Tampa Bay penciled in, still to be confirmed)
• Final standings: 87-75, 3rd in the AL East, swept by the Yankees in the AL Wild Card round

Hot stove season. We'll keep an eye on the winter moves.

That's the Friday board. Celts at 7, B's at 10, Pats Sunday at 1. Enjoy the weekend, everybody.

MOAM Out.

New England This Morning — October 16, 2026

Not for nuthin'…. But….. Friday woke up wet — Marblehead's sitting under a gray shower with a south breeze and temps in the low-to-mid 50s, rain mainly before early afternoon and a high near 67. Saturday cools off and turns windy from the northwest. Here's how four corners of New England looked around 7:35 this morning.

Marblehead Harbor (BYC Oceanfront) — Rainy Friday, no question. The sky is a solid gray lid, the harbor water's dark and choppy, and the camera lens is smeared with raindrops. Boats sit on their moorings under the overcast, and the Boston Yacht Club float looks like it's taking a soaking.

Mount Washington North View — Still iced shut. The summit cam is glazed with rime and fog again — you can't see past the glass. That's the Rockpile on a wet October morning.

Great Eddy Covered Bridge, Waitsfield — Peak color under a flat gray sky. The covered bridge spans the Mad River, the red maple on the bank is still blazing, and the hills behind the farmhouse are muted by the overcast. No pink sunrise today — just autumn under the rain clouds.

Bartlett Experimental Forest, NH — Looking out from the NEON tower over a canopy of reds, oranges and yellows, with low fog settling in the valleys and a thick gray deck overhead. The White Mountains are wearing the same rainy Friday as the coast.

Webcam views courtesy of the Boston Yacht Club, the Mount Washington Observatory, Mad River Valley Television, and NEON/PhenoCam.

MOAM Out.

Rowing in the Rain: The Head of the Charles and What the Storm Drains Send Downriver

Not for nuthin'…. But….. the Head of the Charles opens this morning in the rain. It's the 61st running of what the Boston Globe calls the world's largest three-day rowing competition, Friday through Sunday on the river between Boston and Cambridge. Friday is the soggy one. On Wednesday I wrote about "forever chemicals" turning up in 87% of Massachusetts waterways tested. Today's question is simpler, and it's one every rower on the Charles asks after a storm: what did the rain just wash into the river?

The weekend forecast

The National Weather Service in Boston calls for rain showers and patchy fog in Cambridge today from about 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Highs near 70, south wind gusting to 30 mph, and a tenth to a quarter inch of rain, with more showers likely tonight. Saturday brings a chance of early showers, then partly sunny skies, a high near 51 and a northwest wind gusting to 30. Sunday looks like the pick: sunny, a high near 55 and a light breeze. Per the Globe, Friday's racing runs only in the morning.

Why rain matters on the Charles

• Runoff. Rain washes everything off the streets, parking lots and lawns into the storm drains, and many of those drain straight to the river. The Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA) says high E. coli levels come after storms.
• Sewer overflows. Parts of Boston and Cambridge still have old combined sewers that carry stormwater and sewage in the same pipe. In heavy rain they overflow into the river. CRWA counts 10 active combined sewer overflow (CSO) outfalls that routinely discharge into the Charles, run by the MWRA and the cities of Cambridge and Somerville. CRWA notes a CSO can carry bacteria, viruses, pharmaceuticals, trash and PFAS, the same forever chemicals from Wednesday's post.
• The 48-hour rule. The MWRA says public health officials recommend avoiding contact with the water during rainstorms and for 48 hours afterward.

Watch the flags

CRWA runs a Flagging Program with color-coded flags at boathouses from Watertown to Boston. A blue flag means boating conditions are suitable. A red flag means avoid contact with the river. Red flags go up when CRWA's models predict E. coli above the state standard (the models use rainfall and river flow), when there's a cyanobacteria bloom, or downstream of a CSO discharge, where they fly for 48 hours. As of 3 a.m. today, before the rain, the models showed blue at every boathouse. Check again before you go out this weekend at crwa-flagging.herokuapp.com.

The report card: a long way from a D

Here's the good news. When the EPA issued its first Charles River report card in 1995, the lower river got a D. The EPA's most recent grade, for 2025, gave the Lower Basin a B-, down a notch from a B in 2024, mostly because of last year's cyanobacteria bloom. CRWA says the middle river earned A's and Boston's Muddy River got a C. It notes that progress has "largely stalled or declined slightly" upstream, while the urban stretches keep improving slowly. Paved places get lower grades, and stormwater is the reason.

Practical takeaways

• Rowing or paddling this weekend? Check the flag at your boathouse. Keep river water out of your mouth and away from cuts, and wash up afterward.
• Watching from the bridges? Dress for wind on Saturday, and bring the sunglasses Sunday.
• Want the alerts? Sign up for CRWA's email alerts and the MWRA, Boston Water and Sewer and Cambridge sewage notifications. Under the 2021 Sewage Notification Law, the public must be notified within two hours of a discharge.
• At home: Every gutter downspout aimed at a lawn instead of the driveway, and every rain barrel, keeps a little runoff out of the storm drains. Pick up after the dog. It all heads downhill.

MOAM's take

Thirty years ago nobody wanted to fall in the Charles. Now thousands of rowers come from all over the world to race on it, and a crew of women over 80 is making history in an eight this year. That didn't happen by accident. It took pipes, permits and a lot of stubborn volunteers taking water samples. Rain still finds the weak spots, and the old sewers still overflow. Whatever your politics, a river you can row on is worth finishing the job.

Heading to the river this weekend? Rain on Friday or sun on Sunday? Tell me in the comments.

Sources: Boston Globe, "Boston weather will be rainy, blustery for Head of the Charles" (Oct. 14, 2026); NWS Boston/Norton forecast for Cambridge (issued Oct. 16, 2026); CRWA Flagging Program and live flag page (Oct. 16, 2026, 3 a.m.); CRWA, "Combined Sewer Overflows"; MWRA, CSO Notifications; U.S. EPA, "History of Human Impacts on Charles River"; CRWA, "How clean is the Charles? Understanding the 2025 Charles River Report Card" (May 2026); CBS Boston (Oct. 15, 2026).

— John Nestor
Nanepashemet Real Estate Services, Marblehead

MOAM Out.

#HeadOfTheCharles #CharlesRiver #CleanWater #Rowing #Boston #Massachusetts

How to Use a Marking Knife for Tighter Joints (and When a Pencil Is Fine)

A joint can't fit any tighter than the line you laid it out with….. A pencil line sits on top of the wood and it has width. Chris Becksvoort (Fine Woodworking) figures even a fine pencil line can run 1/32 in. or wider, and WOOD Magazine puts a carpenter's pencil at about 1/16 in. Saw on the wrong side of that and the shoulder's off before you've even started. A marking knife doesn't draw a line, it cuts one. It severs the fibers, and that cut gives the saw tooth or the chisel edge a wall to sit against. That doesn't mean the pencil goes in the trash, though. Half the trick is knowing which line gets which tool.

Why it matters: Wherever two parts meet (a tenon shoulder, a half-lap, a dovetail, a hinge leaf), the width of your line turns into a gap. Paul Sellers calls the knifed shoulder a knifewall: it's the guideline and the wall that separates the waste from the wanted, and saws, chisels and planes register against it. Yoav Liberman (Popular Woodworking) adds a shallow chiseled ramp on the waste side to make a little "V" that nests the saw for the first few strokes. The saw falls toward the square wall the knife made, not down the middle of a fuzzy line. The flip side: Becksvoort still draws his first layout in pencil, and at North Bennet Street School in Boston, Steve Brown teaches a sharp No. 2 for tracing dovetails and hinge mortises, because there a knife would cut into wood you mean to keep. Knife the lines that mate. Pencil the rest.

Materials

• A planed offcut (pine and oak both teach you something) to practice knife walls on before the good stock
• No. 2 pencil kept sharp, or a 0.5 mm or 0.7 mm mechanical pencil for a line that stays the same width
• Carpenter's pencil or lumber crayon for rough-sawn stock and cut-list layout
• P220 sandpaper to bring a pencil to a finer point, or 120–150 grit to flatten it into a wedge for tracing

Tools

• Marking knife: single-bevel (comes in left- and right-hand) or a double-bevel spear point that works either way
• Combination square or try square
• Marking gauge, preferably a cutting or wheel gauge, for lines parallel to an edge
• Bevel-edge chisel for paring the V on the waste side
• Backsaw or ryoba
• A flashlight held low (raking light makes a knife line easy to see)

Steps

1. Rough it out in pencil. Lay out lengths, part locations and the first lines of your joinery in pencil. These are lines that will get refined later, and pencil is quick, easy to see, and erasable if you change your mind (Becksvoort). On rough-sawn boards, a lumber crayon or carpenter's pencil is the right tool (Tom McLaughlin, FWW). Mark the waste with an X, or with the arrow or squiggle Rockler suggests, so you never cut on the wrong side of the line and come up a kerf short.
2. Put the square on the keeper. Lay the square's blade on the piece you're keeping and hold the stock tight to a true edge. That way, if the knife wanders, it wanders into the waste (WOOD Magazine). To carry a line around a corner, set the knife tip in the line, slide the square up to the blade, then cut.
3. Knife the line: flat to the square, bevel to the waste. With a single-bevel knife, keep the flat back tight against the square and the bevel facing the waste (Liberman; WOOD). With a double-bevel knife, lean it so the bevel riding the square sits plumb, which keeps the wall on the keeper side square (Sellers). Take a light first pass to set the track, then a few more with more pressure, to roughly 1/32 to 1/16 in. deep (Liberman).
4. Gauge anything parallel to an edge. Tenon cheeks, lap depths and dovetail baselines all get the marking gauge, not a square and a ruler. A knife-type cutter (a cutting or wheel gauge) slices cleanly across the grain, where a pin tends to tear (McLaughlin). Hold it by the head and start with light strokes so it doesn't wander (Bob Van Dyke, FWW).
5. Pare the V on the waste side. Set a chisel, bevel up, about 1/16 in. into the waste at roughly 45° and push down toward the knife line so the chip pops out at the wall. Work along the line until you have a clean little ramp (Liberman). Sellers does the same thing with the chisel angled low into the knifewall to make a step-down.
6. Saw or chop against the wall. Nest the saw in the V, square face against the knifed wall. Keep light pressure on the spine for the first strokes and ease off once the kerf is about 1/8 in. deep (Liberman). For chisel work, the final paring cut drops right into the knife line, which gives the chisel a seat (McLaughlin).
7. Cut to the wall, work up to the pencil. A knifed line is the finished edge, so you saw and pare right to it. A pencil line on keeper wood, like Brown's traced dovetails, is something you work up to but not into. Anything that'll be planed, sanded or sawn away later can just stay in pencil.

Where the pencil belongs

• Rough stock and first layout: cut lists, part locations, first passes at joinery (Becksvoort; McLaughlin).
• Curves and chamfers where you don't want a scored line left in the work (McLaughlin), and fair curves run off a batten.
• The loft floor. WoodenBoat's lofting primer runs lines in pencil (colored pencils to tell the views apart, with erasers in the kit), because a line on the loft floor gets checked, faired and redrawn.
• Machine setup marks, where the fence and stops do the precise work (McLaughlin).
• Tracing one part onto another when a knife would cut into keeper wood: Brown's dovetails and hinge leaves, with a No. 2 sharpened on P220.
• Boat shop: station marks and bevel numbers on rough dory frames and rough planking stock are pencil work, since that wood gets planed and faired anyway. Save the knife for the fitted joinery.

MOAM's shop note: The usual mistake is laying the square on the waste side and leaning the knife the wrong way. The bevel's bruise and any wander end up on your keeper, and you've traded a pencil's width of slop for a knife's worth of tear-out. Square on the keeper, bevel to the waste, light first pass. Pro trick: if a pencil is the right call, keep it sharp. Becksvoort found a freshly sharpened soft No. 1 wears down to a 1/16 in. line in just 6 to 10 in. of drawing on hardwood. A No. 2 or a 0.5 mm mechanical holds a line. And when you can't see your knife line, don't cut it deeper. Just put a flashlight down low across the board and it'll show up.

Sources: Christian Becksvoort, "What's the Best Tool for Accurate Layout?" Fine Woodworking #179; Steve Brown, "Layout: When Pencil Beats Knife," Fine Woodworking #224; Tom McLaughlin, "A Woodworker's Layout Tools: Marking," Fine Woodworking #280; Bob Van Dyke, "Using a Marking Gauge," Fine Woodworking #261; Paul Sellers, "What's 'Knifewall'?"; Yoav Liberman, "An Intro to Marking Knives: Part One," Popular Woodworking; Rockler, "Measurement Advice: Accurate Measuring and Marking"; WOOD Magazine, "Measure and mark for better accuracy"; Karen Wales, "Lofting: How to Loft a Simple Boat Plan," WoodenBoat.

MOAM Out.

Tools for this tip

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

• Narex double-bevel marking knife: knifing shoulder lines and transferring joint layouts; lean it so the side against the square rides plumb
• Starrett 12-inch combination square (11H-12-4R): the steel blade the knife rides against, laid on the keeper side of the line
• Taytools wheel marking gauge, solid brass head: gauging lines parallel to an edge: cheeks, lap depths, dovetail baselines
• Narex Premium bevel-edge chisel set (4 pc): paring the small V-groove on the waste side of the knife wall
• Gyokucho 9-1/2" ryoba razor saw for hardwoods: sawing with the teeth seated against the knife wall

Use whatever you already have in the shop; these are just the ones that fit this job.

New Real Estate Listings on the North Shore Today – Thursday, October 15

New Listings Today – North Shore 29 Towns

Look at this inventory dump….. 62 new listings hit the North Shore market in the last 24 hours, across 23 towns.

Top towns: Lynn leads with 17, while Gloucester and Danvers each had 5; Peabody had 4; Salem and Amesbury each had 3; Swampscott, Boxford, Ipswich, Newburyport, Salisbury, Beverly, Middleton, and Manchester each had 2; Merrimac, Wenham, Hamilton, Groveland, Newbury, Marblehead, Nahant, Rockport, and Georgetown each had 1.

By property type: Residential 43 · Residential Lease (rentals) 15 · Residential Income 2 · Commercial Sale 1 · Commercial Lease 1.

The MOAM's take: Lynn is carrying the day with 17 new listings — a big inventory wave on the North Shore's densest town. If you've been waiting for more choices, today is worth a look.

Contact Nanepashemet to view these.
Nanepashemet Real Estate Services
Call or text 781-727-6516
jnestor@nanepashemet.com

MOAM Out.

Listing data courtesy of MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN); listings shown are held by various brokerages. Nanepashemet Real Estate Services, MA Broker Lic. 136995-RE-B.

The Wing is out today

The Wing is out today.

It's the story of Wenepoykin, the last son of Nanepashemet. The English called him Sagamore George. In 1684 he came home from slavery in Barbados, an old man, and before he died he told who the land should go to. That same summer the men of Marblehead paid sixteen pounds to his heirs for this town.

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HL77F6KS
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HL8VP2JM

Thank you to everyone who asked about it, read an early copy, or put up with me talking about seventeenth-century deeds at dinner. If you read it, an honest review on Amazon helps a small local book more than you'd think.

If you'd like a signed copy, message me. My author copies arrive at the end of the month.

Boston Sports Morning Report — Thursday, Oct. 15

 

Not for nuthin'…. But….. it's a quiet Thursday on the Boston sports calendar. Nobody plays tonight, so grab a second cup and let's run through where everybody stands.

Short version: Celts beat Charlotte 114–93 last night and sit 3–0 in the preseason, B's are still first in the Atlantic at 5-2-0, Pats are off until the Jets come to Foxborough Sunday, and the Sox are done for the year. Coffee's on.

Boston Celtics

• Yesterday: W 114–93 vs Charlotte Hornets (preseason, TD Garden)
• Today: No game
• Next (preseason): Fri, Oct. 16 — 7:00 PM ET — @ Philadelphia (NBA TV)
• Regular-season opener: Tue, Oct. 20 — 3:00 PM ET — @ Detroit Pistons (NBC)
• Home opener: Fri, Oct. 23 — 7:00 PM ET — vs New York Knicks (Prime Video)
• Status: 3-0 in the preseason

Tatum had 19 points, 8 boards and 6 assists, and Pritchard handed out 11 assists. Preseason, so don't overread it — but it's a clean win at the Garden. Philly Friday, then the games start counting Tuesday in Detroit.

Boston Bruins

• Yesterday: No game (last out: W 6–3 @ San Jose, Tue. Oct. 13)
• Today: No game
• Next: Fri, Oct. 16 — 10:00 PM ET — @ Anaheim (NESN)
• Then: Sat, Oct. 17 — 9:00 PM ET — @ Los Angeles (NESN)
• Standings: 5-2-0 · 10 points · 1st in the Atlantic (tied with Ottawa on points) · 3rd in the East · won 3 straight

Still riding that West Coast win in San Jose. Anaheim Friday and LA Saturday are more late ones. Ottawa hosts the Islanders tonight, so keep an eye on that one.

New England Patriots

• Yesterday: No game
• Today: No game
• Next: Sun, Oct. 18 — 1:00 PM ET — vs New York Jets (home, CBS)
• Then: Thu, Oct. 22 — 8:15 PM ET — @ Chicago (Prime Video)
• Standings: 3-2 · 2nd in AFC East, 1 game behind Buffalo (4-1) · No. 5 seed in the AFC right now · won 2 straight

Still feeling good about that 45–17 win over the Raiders. Jets in Foxborough Sunday, then a short week with a Thursday night trip to Chicago.

Boston Red Sox

• Yesterday / Today: No games — season over
• Next: 2027 season
• Final standings: 87-75 · 3rd in AL East · Swept by the Yankees in the AL Wild Card round

Hot stove season. We'll keep an eye on the winter moves.

That's the Thursday board. Nobody tonight — Celts at Philly Friday, B's at Anaheim Friday, Pats vs Jets Sunday.

MOAM Out.

New England This Morning — October 15, 2026

Not for nuthin'…. But….. Thursday's waking up clear and sunny on the coast — about 51° this morning with a high near 60 and a northwest breeze — while the Rockpile is still iced over and fogged in. Enjoy the blue sky today; Friday turns rainy and breezy, and Saturday gets windy and chilly up north. Here's how three corners of New England looked around 7:35 this morning.

Marblehead Harbor (BYC Oceanfront) — A clean sunrise. The sun is just up over the harbor, throwing a bright gold path across the water, and the sky is clear blue. Boats sit quiet on their moorings, the far shore is sharp, and the Boston Yacht Club float looks ready for the day.

Mount Washington North View — Still nothing but ice and fog on the lens. The summit cam is glazed over with rime, and you can't see past the glass. High winds and zero visibility up there this morning.

Great Eddy Covered Bridge, Waitsfield — Peak color under a soft pink-and-gold sky. The Mad River runs dark under the covered bridge, the red maple on the bank is still blazing, and the hills behind the farmhouse are lit with autumn light.

Webcam views courtesy of the Boston Yacht Club, the Mount Washington Observatory, and Mad River Valley Television.

MOAM Out.

How to Cut Splined Miter Joints for Plywood Boxes

This is catching the MOAM's attention today….. A plain 45° miter on plywood looks sharp — and it's the first corner that opens when something leans on the box. End grain to end grain is a poor glue face. Slip a full-length plywood spline into matching slots and you get alignment during clamp-up plus real long-grain glue surface across the joint.

Why it matters: Mario Rodriguez (Fine Woodworking) puts it straight: a spline reinforces and aligns a miter; on 3/4 in. stock the spline runs about 1/4 in. thick and no more than 3/4 in. wide. Rockler adds the shop numbers that keep the corner from getting weaker instead of stronger — slot each miter face slightly under 3/8 in. deep, fit the spline a hair tight then ease it, and dry-fit so the strips don't bottom out and hold the miters open. On plywood boxes and hatch coamings, use real plywood for the spline (not solid stock) so the cross-plies carry load both ways — Fine Woodworking forum practice that matches Rodriguez's proportions when you size the slot to a 1/4 in. ply strip. The joint shows up on hatch coamings, shop boxes, and small cabinets. No Chamberlain dory scantlings claimed here — just the corner that holds when plywood wants to rack.

Materials

• 3/4 in. plywood for the box sides or coaming stock (example thickness for the numbers below)
• 1/4 in. real plywood for the splines — full length of each corner; leave a little extra to sand flush
• Glue: PVA (yellow glue) for interior boxes; WEST SYSTEM epoxy (105/206 or your usual marine mix) for hatch coamings and anything that sees moisture
• Scrap of the same 3/4 in. ply for test miters and slot-depth checks
• Sandpaper for flush-trimming after the glue cures

Tools

• Table saw with a sharp blade (or a miter saw for the 45° cuts, then table saw / router for the slots)
• Combination square or bevel gauge to verify a true 45°
• Optional: 1/4 in. straight bit in a router / router table if you prefer slots over a saw kerf
• Marking knife, bar or strap clamps, push stick
• Block plane or sandpaper to ease an over-tight spline

Steps

1. Cut accurate 45° miters. Raise the blade, tilt to 45°, and verify with a combination-square head or a bevel gauge set to 45° (Rockler). Square boxes need spot-on angles or the corners won't close. Cut one end of each part, then use a stop block on an auxiliary miter-gauge fence so matching lengths stay matching.
2. Lay out and center the spline slot. On 3/4 in. stock, plan for a 1/4 in. thick spline (Rodriguez). Mark the slot on a scrap miter first. Prefer locating the slot toward the inside of the corner for strength without chewing into the outside tip (Rockler).
3. Cut the slots — blade still at 45°. Leave the blade tilted. Lower it so each face gets a slot slightly under 3/8 in. deep (Rockler on 3/4 in. stock). That depth pair lines up with Rodriguez's max spline width of about 3/4 in. Center the kerf on the miter face (or use a 1/4 in. straight bit for a router slot sized to your actual ply thickness). An 1/8 in. kerf can work on 3/4 in. material in some shops (FWW forum) — for this tip, match the slot to a 1/4 in. plywood spline so you keep the Rodriguez proportion. Test on scrap before you touch the good parts.
4. Rip and fit the plywood splines. Rip 1/4 in. plywood strips. Aim for a fit that is a hair tight, then ease with a block plane or sandpaper until the strip slides in easily but not loosely (Rockler). Width should be about the combined slot depths minus a hair so the miters can close — if a spline bottoms out, it will spring the joint open. Cut strips a little long; sand flush after glue-up.
5. Dry-fit the whole box or coaming frame. Assemble all corners with splines in place. Check that every miter closes, the assembly sits square, and nothing is held open by an over-wide spline. Fix fit now — glue is not the time to discover a spring-open corner.
6. Glue and clamp. Interior boxes: PVA on the miter faces and in the slots; slide the splines home; strap clamp or carefully placed bar clamps for even pressure. Marine hatch coamings: WEST SYSTEM epoxy the same way — wet the end grain, then assemble. Wipe squeeze-out. When cured, flush-sand the spline ends.

MOAM's shop note: The common mistake is cutting the slots too deep or making the spline too wide — you weaken the outer tip of the miter, or the strip bottoms out and the joint won't close no matter how hard you clamp. Slightly under 3/8 in. each face on 3/4 in. stock, plywood spline (not solid) for plywood boxes, dry-fit until the corners kiss. Pro trick: leave the saw at 45° after the miters and cut the slots in the same setup — fewer chances to chase a wrong angle. On a hatch coaming or a shop box, that full-length ply strip is the difference between a corner that stays put and one that racks the first time you lean on it.

Sources: Mario Rodriguez, "All About Spline Joints," Fine Woodworking (Sep 12, 2005); Rockler, "Making Spline-miter Box Joints"; Fine Woodworking forum on plywood miters (1/4 in. plywood spline); WOOD Magazine, "Miter with Muscle" and three-way miter spline notes (1/4 in. plywood splines, centered slots).

MOAM Out.

Tools for this tip

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

• Gyokucho 9-1/2" ryoba razor saw for hardwoods: hand-cutting miters and trimming splines flush when the tablesaw isn't set up
• Starrett 12-inch combination square (11H-12-4R): verifying a true 45° before you cut the box parts
• Bessey GSCC2.512 12-inch clutch-style bar clamp: clamping the mitered corners after the splines are seated
• Narex double-bevel marking knife: crisp layout marks for slot location on the miter face
• West System 105 Resin + 206 Slow Hardener bundle with 300 Mini Pumps: epoxy path for hatch coamings and marine plywood corners

Use whatever you already have in the shop; these are just the ones that fit this job.

New Real Estate Listings on the North Shore Today – Wednesday, October 14

New Listings Today – North Shore 29 Towns

This is catching the MOAM's attention today….. 44 new listings hit the North Shore market in the last 24 hours, across 17 towns.

Top towns: Beverly, Peabody, and Salem lead with 5 each, while Gloucester and Newburyport each added 4. Newbury and Lynn each had 3; Danvers, Ipswich, Marblehead, Swampscott, and Nahant each had 2; Saugus, Topsfield, Essex, Boxford, and Amesbury each had 1.

By property type: Residential 32 · Residential Lease (rentals) 8 · Residential Income 3 · Land 1.

The MOAM's take: Beverly, Peabody, and Salem are sharing the lead — a solid for-sale wave across the core North Shore. If you've been waiting for more inventory, today is worth a look.

Contact Nanepashemet to view these.
Nanepashemet Real Estate Services
Call or text 781-727-6516
jnestor@nanepashemet.com

MOAM Out.

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Boston Sports Morning Report — Wednesday, Oct. 14

Not for nuthin'…. But….. if you stayed up past midnight, you got paid. The Bruins went into San Jose late last night and came out with a 6–3 win, their third straight, and they're sitting in first place in the Atlantic this morning.

Short version: B's are hot, Celts host the Hornets tonight at 7:30 in a preseason tune-up, Pats are off until the Jets come to town Sunday, and the Sox are done for the year. Coffee's on.

Boston Bruins

• Yesterday: W 6–3 @ San Jose Sharks (late Tuesday night, NESN / ESPN)
• Today: No game
• Next: Fri, Oct. 16 — 10:00 PM ET — @ Anaheim (NESN)
• Then: Sat, Oct. 17 — 9:00 PM ET — @ Los Angeles (NESN)
• Standings: 5-2-0 · 10 points · 1st in the Atlantic (tied with Ottawa on points) · 3rd in the East · won 3 straight

Six goals on the first stop of the West Coast trip. Nice way to start it. Anaheim Friday and LA Saturday are more late ones, so rest up.

Boston Celtics

• Yesterday: No game (last out: W 144–106 vs Philadelphia, Sat. Oct. 10, preseason)
• Today: 7:30 PM ET — vs Charlotte Hornets (TD Garden, preseason) — NBC Sports Boston / Peacock
• Next (preseason): Fri, Oct. 16 — 7:00 PM ET — @ Philadelphia (NBA TV)
• Regular-season opener: Tue, Oct. 20 — 3:00 PM ET — @ Detroit Pistons (NBC)
• Home opener: Fri, Oct. 23 — 7:00 PM ET — vs New York Knicks (Prime Video)
• Status: 2-0 in the preseason

Preseason, so don't read too much into it, but it's basketball at the Garden on a Wednesday night. After this it's Philly Friday, then the games start counting next Tuesday in Detroit.

New England Patriots

• Yesterday: No game
• Today: No game
• Next: Sun, Oct. 18 — 1:00 PM ET — vs New York Jets (home, CBS)
• Then: Thu, Oct. 22 — 8:15 PM ET — @ Chicago (Prime Video)
• Standings: 3-2 · 2nd in AFC East, 1 game behind Buffalo (4-1) · No. 5 seed in the AFC right now · won 2 straight

Still feeling good about that 45–17 win over the Raiders. Jets in Foxborough Sunday, then a short week with a Thursday night trip to Chicago.

Boston Red Sox

• Yesterday / Today: No games — season over
• Next: 2027 season
• Final standings: 87-75 · 3rd in AL East · Swept by the Yankees in the AL Wild Card round

Hot stove season. We'll keep an eye on the winter moves.

That's the Wednesday board. Celts tonight, B's back on Friday, Pats Sunday.

MOAM Out.