26 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
Straightest Path to a Great Chair
I mill the rest of the chair stock to its
rectangular shapes.
Start With the
Side-Rail Joinery
Joinery starts with the side seat rails,
which have compound angles on
each end. These four ends require
four diff erent setups on the tablesaw,
with both the blade and miter gauge
angled each time. To keep track
of those angles, and set them up
accurately, I make a copy of each side
rail in^3 / 4 ". MDF. Trust me: It’s worth
it. These templates are labeled with
all the necessary angles, they’ll show
you how long to cut each part, and
you can save them for the next time
you make this chair.
6
7
6 Make an accurate MDF sample
with labels to help set up the four
cuts without getting confused.
7 Lay out^3 / 8 " mortises in all four
ends of the side rails. These will
enter at an angle, so cheat them a
little to one side so they don’t pop
out of the edge of the rail.
8 To set up the compound mortising
angle for the ends of the side rails,
align the end of the part with the
front edge of the table, and tilt it
upward until it is aligned vertically.
9 Place a^3 / 8 " bit in the collet and
use the layout to set up the height
of the bit.8 9
With the butt joints cut I lay out
the^3 / 8 "-thick mortises on the ends
of the pieces, making sure I leave
mortise walls that are at least^1 / 4 "
thick. Orienting the side rails for
mortising is as easy as bringing their
compound-angled ends parallel to
the front face of the mortiser table
and wedging a piece of wood under
the back of the workpiece to bring
that face into vertical alignment with
the edge of the mortiser’s table. The
horizontal mortiser makes it easy.
After clamping the rail in place, I
set the height, depth, and end stops
on the mortiser, and cut the mortise.
To locate the tops of the mortises
in the curved back legs, I use the
line I transferred from the shaperjig. To create the^3 / 16 " reveal I
want between the legs and rails, I
measure the mortise wall on the rail
(see photo 10), and then extend the
square to lay out the same mortise
wall on the corresponding leg.
After considering the orientation
of the front legs for the best grain
match, I locate their mortises
vertically by hooking a long square
onto their bottom ends, and use the
direct-measuring trick again to set
the amount of inset between rails
and legs.
Because the mortises go into the
rails at an angle, they can go square-
ly into the front and back legs. That
means the legs can lay fl at on their
sides on the mortiser table.