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.
Progress:
Clamp removed, splines glued into place, sanded, cleaned with mineral spirits, finished with BLO.
Photos before BLO:
Looking good!
Chrisp, clean joints looks amazing.
What wood species did you use for the spline?
