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Using a full-size section drawing is essential; it lets me set angles and shows
the exact sizes of parts without any of the risks of measuring.T hin v e n e e r s t e n d t o b u c k le w h e n c lam p e d. Gluin g t h e m in a s t ac k ap plie s
ev e n p r e s su r e t o ke e p t h e m fl at.Angled scrapThe quick and easy way to make the angled cuts for the through tenons is
w i t h a h an d s aw, guid e d by an an gle d b lo c k of w o o d.An angled block of scrap wood tilts the leg to cut an angled mortise paral-
lel to the top of the leg.First Things First
Before cutting any lumber, I made a full-size section drawing
on a piece of plywood. This helped me plan the sequence of
building, and the sizes of the joints. It also established a refer-
ence to the exact size and shape of the parts.
While I was building this table, I referred to this drawing
rather than relying on calculations, numbers and measuring.
My CAD program tells me that the angle of the legs is 3.56 ̊
and that the length of the bottom edge of the rail between
the legs is 15^17 ⁄ 32 ". Neither of those pieces of information is
needed, and trying to build to the numbers instead of refer-
ring to the full-size drawing only slows things down and
invites mistakes.
I made the legs by laminating two^13 ⁄ 16 "-thick pieces to-
gether, then covering the edge seams with^1 ⁄ 8 "-thick veneer
that I resawed from the same boards I used for the other
parts of the legs. This is the method originally used by Gustav
Stickley to show quartersawn figure on all four edges of a leg.
To keep the thin pieces flat, I glued and clamped all of the legs
together at one time.
After trimming the edges of the veneer fl ush with my
smoothing plane, I cut the angles at the top and bottom of
each leg. I then returned to the full-size layout to locate the
mortises. The mortises in each leg are in different locations, so
I marked each leg’s position in the table on its top. As I made
other pieces, I marked which leg they joined to with a red
lumber crayon.
The mortises on the back of the front legs, and the front of
the back legs are parallel to the top and bottom of the legs. I
put an angled block of scrap on the bed of the hollow-chisel
mortiser to make these mortises.
The Best Made Plans
I planned on making the remaining mortises in the legs with
the mortiser, but on the second mortise, the machine broke
down. Faced with a deadline, I switched to plan B and made
these mortises with my plunge router.
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