40 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
Magazine Cabinet
even grain on all four sides.
Take care that everything is fl at,
square, and properly thicknessed be-
cause these eight pieces will provide
the structural bones for the rest of
the piece. It’s also never too early
in this project to begin thinking of
components in relation to their fi nal
orientation, so arrange the legs as
they will be positioned in the fi nal
construction (front, back, left and
right) paying attention to grain, pat-
tern and chatoyance. Mark the four
legs with a marriage mark. Lay the
legs side by side and mark the top,
bottom and mortise locations across
all four pieces.
Mark and rout mortises in the legs
with a plunge router and edge guide.
Each of these mortises will be 1^1 / 4 ”
deep,^3 / 8 ” wide and 4" long with the
top mortise beginning 1^1 / 2 " from the
top of the leg and the lower mortise
beginning 35" from the top of the
leg. The mortises are centered on
the leg but, when routing, be sure to
reference the guide on the same face
(outside or inside) to eliminate any
discrepancy.
Mark the tenon locations from
the bottom edge of the side rails
starting 1" in from each end. Using a
square and a bevel gauge set to 87°
carry the line around the rail with a
marking knife. The trapezoidal shape
of the rails should be clear. Mark the
ends for a centered^3 / 8 " tenon. Using
a shallow^1 / 2 " pattern bit, line the
routing jig up with the baselines of
the tenons and clear the cheeks of
the tenons with a router using climb
cuts until the fi nal baseline pass. Flip
the rails over and clear off the other
cheek. Mark and saw^1 / 2 " shoulders
on the top and bottom of each tenon.
These cuts will need to be angled in
at 93° (from the top of the rail) and
the end of the tenon angled to match
the shoulder so that the tenons
seat in the mortises squarely at 90°.
Round the edges of the tenons with
a chisel or rasp to match the routed
mortises. The resulting tenons
should be roughly^3 / 8 " x 1" x 4". Fit
the tenons to the legs and make any^5
4
3
3 Mark out the angled
tenons. Then, use a router
and your jig to hog out the
waste for the tenons
4 Then, cut your tenons
to fi t the mortises. You'll
need to round the ends
of the tenons to fi t the
mortises – a chisel makes
quick work of it.
5 Dry fi t the parts for the
sides of the magazine
cabinet. The goal is to
have two perfectly identi-
cal sides.