Classic Arts and Crafts Furniture 14 Timeless Designs-2

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The angled mortises on the lower rails were roughed out with a Forstner

bit on the drill press. A tapered block under the workpiece makes the holes

at the correct angle.

After squaring the corners of the mortise with a chisel, I use a rasp to fi nish

smoothing the inside of the angled joint.

T h e s e an gle d s h o uld e r cu t s w o uld b e t r ic k y t o make w i t h p ow e r t o ol s. The through mortises that pierce the lower front and back

rails are at an angle to the face, and I’d planned to use an

angled block on the bed of the mortiser to make them. In-

stead, I used a similar setup on the drill press. I removed most

of the waste with a Forstner bit, then cleaned up the openings

with chisels and rasps.

I made the straight and standard tenons on the ends of the

lower rails on the table saw. I used a miter gauge to cut the

tenon shoulders, and a jig that rides on the fence to cut the

cheeks.

I considered making the angled cuts on the remaining tenons

on the table saw, but realized each angled setup would need to

be done twice: One to the right and one to the left. I decided to

make a guide block that could be reversed for my handsaw, as

seen in the photos at bottom left and center.

This was a quick and accurate method, and I was able to

make all four saw cuts for each joint in sequence. This helped

to keep the parts in order, and prevented making any miscuts

by machine.

I dry-fi tted the front and back legs with the top rails, and

checked this assembly against my full-size layout. The angles

matched, so I knew I could determine the length and angle

After fi tting the through tenon, the location of the second mortise is laid

out, keeping the back of the hole just behind the face of the rail.

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