664 4
A Trip to Through-Tenon Territory
The next step is where the dados in the
case sides saved a tremendous amount of
time and prevented the formation of even
more grey hair. The layout for the tenons
needs to match the mortise locations
exactly.
At this point I looked at the three
shelves, marked the best face and edge
of each, and decided which one would be
the top, middle and bottom. I clamped the
entire cabinet together and with a lumber
crayon, marked the locations of the
shelves in relation to the cabinet sides.
Some hand fi tting would be needed,
and putting a carefully fi t bottom shelf
upside down in the top shelf location
wouldn’t be a good thing. With the case
together, I ran the point of my knife
around the perimeter of each mortise,
marking the location of the tenons in the
ends of the shelves.
I set up a small plunge router with
a fence set to leave the tenons slightly
proud of the outside of the cabinet sides.
I set the depth to the top of the knife
marks, checking both sides of each end
to be sure that the tenons were centered.
I wanted to make the cheek cuts quickly,
but I didn’t want to go too far.
I cut the edge cheeks of the tenons
with a dovetail saw, and used a jigsaw
to remove the waste between the two
tenons. With the end of each shelf housed in the dado these
cuts didn’t need to be pretty; I only needed to get material out
of the way.
Before starting the fi tting process, I took a chisel and
chamfered the inside edge of each mortise, and with a piece
of sandpaper I broke the sharp edge of each tenon to prevent
damge to the outside of the mortises during fi tting.
With a soft pencil, I made a series of hatch marks on the
tenon cheeks and eased them into place. When I met resis-
tance, I removed the shelf and examined the marks. The tight
spots showed as smears in the pencil lines and I used a fl oat to
reduce the thickness until I had a good fi t.
A Further Complication
Clearly in the grips of an obsessive-compulsive exposed-joinery
episode, I laid out each tenon end for a pair of wedges. Un-
NO. ITEM DIMENSIONS (INCHES) MATERIAL COMMENTS
T W L❏ 2 Sides^13 ⁄ 16 111 ⁄ 2 59 Sapele
❏ 3 Fixed shelves^13 ⁄ 16 1011 ⁄ 16 28 1 ⁄ 8 Sapele
❏ 2 Adjustable shelves^13 ⁄ 16 107 ⁄ 16 26 1 ⁄ 4 Sapele
❏ 2 Back panel outer stiles^13 ⁄ 16 35 ⁄ 16 50 7 ⁄ 16 Sapele
❏ 1 Back panel inner stile^13 ⁄ 16 3 46^5 ⁄ 16 Sapele 11 ⁄ 4 " TBE *
❏ 1 Back panel top rail^13 ⁄ 16 3 23^1 ⁄ 4 Sapele 11 ⁄ 4 " TBE *
❏ 1 Back panel bottom rail^13 ⁄ 16 35 ⁄ 8 23 1 ⁄ 4 Sapele 11 ⁄ 4 " TBE *
❏ 2 Back panel middle rails^13 ⁄ 16 3 11^3 ⁄ 8 Sapele 11 ⁄ 4 " TBE *
❏ 4 Back panels^3 ⁄ 4 95 ⁄ 8 211 ⁄ 8 Sapele
❏ 1 Back splash^13 ⁄ 16 53 ⁄ 8 271 ⁄ 2 Sapele
❏ 1 Lower apron/drawer front^13 ⁄ 16 33 ⁄ 16 263 ⁄ 8 Sapele
❏ 2 Drawer sides^5 ⁄ 8 13 ⁄ 4 101 ⁄ 16 Maple
❏ 1 Drawer back^1 ⁄ 2 11 ⁄ 4 261 ⁄ 8 Maple
❏ 1 Drawer bottom^1 ⁄ 2 93 ⁄ 4 253 ⁄ 8 Poplar
❏ 2 Drawer runners^3 ⁄ 8 3 ⁄ 4 91 ⁄ 16 Maple
- TBE=Tenon both ends
Craftsman Bookcase
Built around the holes. This jig for the through-mortises is made by assembling small pieces to a
backer. The openings are then cut with a router and a locating fence is added.Double duty. After routing, the mortising jig also serves as a guide for the
chisel to square the corners of the through-mortises.6 60-69_Craftsman Bookcase.indd 64 0 - 69 _Craftsman Bookcase.indd 64 3/25/13 9:56 AM 3 / 25 / 13 9 : 56 AM