I have a homemade box joint jig, and have used it without problem on poplar and teak. But when I used it on walnut I had bad tear out on the end cuts. Does it make sense that walnut is more prone to tear out than poplar or teak?
I solved the tear out problem with a carpet taped backer board, but then I had trouble holding the wood steady for the first cut and generated a lot of scrap before getting it right.
Would a spiral bit be less likely to tear out? If not I suppose my options are to make a better jig to secure the wood on the first cut, or (gasp) doing it on the table saw. Or does the table saw have tear out problems of it's own?
Thanks for any advice on this.