The_Woodworker_and_Woodturner_-_October_2019

http://www.getwoodworking.com October 2019 The Woodworker & Good Woodworking 39

10 Cut a trial tenon: set the fence to cut on

the waste side of the line and make a test cut

11 Turn the piece over left/right and cut the

opposite cheek

12 Cut off the waste by hand and try the tenon for width in the trial mortise. Repeat this experiment,

adjusting the bandsaw fence, until the tenon produced is a nice sliding fit

13 Mark a shoulder line on another piece and

pass it through the bandsaw up to that line

16 Now for the shoulders. If you’re lucky enough

to have a decent mitre fence with your machine,

then of course you can use that

14 Position a stop piece against the end

• note the notch to allow sawdust to clear

17 Mine’s too sloppy a fit in the slot for accuracy,

so I use this MDF triangle against the rip fence

15 Flip the timber left to right and cut the second

cheek. Cut all the tenon cheeks before disturbing

this setting

18 For safety, clamp a short sub-fence onto

the rip fence, stopping just short of the blade

will be in the manual. With all those sorted,
some of the finer points need to be checked.
The blade must be cutting straight and true

• parallel to the fence and perpendicular to the
  table. It’s very important that both these settings
  are precise or the tenons – and therefore the
  whole project – will end up twisted. The easiest

way to test this is to cut some timber.

Set the fence just a few millimetres from

the blade and run a straight piece of timber

through. The cut should be absolutely parallel

to the edge from start to finish – but it’s a pretty

safe bet that it won’t be. However, don’t assume

that it’s the fence that’s to blame.