Mason's miter

In a mason's mitre, the two elements being joined meet as for a butt joint but a small section of one member is removed creating a socket to receive the end of the other.

A small mitre is made at the inside edges of the socket and on the end of the intersecting member so that edge treatments are carried through the joint appropriately.

The mason's mitre allows the appearance of a mitre joint to be created with much less waste than occurs with a common mitre joint, in which triangular sections must be removed from the ends of both joint members.

Neither joint requires that one part be coped (or fit) over the other.

In the mason's mitre, the intersecting mouldings are carved within a single stone block or the woodwork's stile, with the rail or adjacent block having a straight profile.