TABL ES & C HAIRSTABLES & CHAIRS^111515
of the lower stretcher directly from the full-size drawing. The
critical length on this part is the distance between the shoul-
ders of the through tenons. The angled parts of these tenons
are short, but they need to be exact. I didn’t want to risk a
miscut on the table saw, so I used another angled block to
guide my handsaw.
The Key to a Good Fit
I did use the table saw tenoning jig to cut the wide cheeks
of the through tenons on the lower stretcher, and the band
saw to cut the edge cheeks. I made all of these cuts a hair
big. Through tenons always demand some hand fi tting. I used
chisels, rasps and a shoulder plane to fi t the tenons, checking
the fi t frequently as I came close to the fi nished size.
With the through tenons fi t, there were only two mortises
remaining: Those for the keys that hold the lower stretcher to
the lower rails. These look diffi cult, but are actually the easiest
joints to make in the piece. With the tenon fi t in its mortise, I
made a pencil mark at the intersection.
Taking the pieces back apart, I made another line slightly
behind the fi rst one. This puts the mortise just behind the
intersection, and ensures that the key pulls the two lower rails
tightly together. Luckily a repair part for the mortiser arrived,
and I could cut these mortises with one stroke of the^1 ⁄ 2 "
chisel. I used a piece of scrap under the tenon to support it
while the cut was made.
In most pieces with a keyed tenon, the mortise is angled slightly
to allow the key to wedge in place. Because the rails are tilted
back and the stretcher is horizontal, the angle of the rail allows
the key to wedge in a straight mortise. To make the keys, I cut a
few long pieces of scrap to slightly more than the^1 ⁄ 2 " width of
the mortise by^5 ⁄ 8 ". I cut pieces about 6" long, and cut the taper
on the band saw. I used my block plane to remove the saw marks,
and bring the keys down to a snug fi t.
This method let me get a good fi t without worrying about
the length of the keys. When I was happy with the fi t, I
marked^3 ⁄ 4 " above and below the protruding tenon to get the
finished length of the keys.
The last parts to be made were the narrow rail below the
drawer and the web frame. The rail is thin so that it can be
turned 90 ̊ to show quartersawn fi gure on its face. It is also
beveled to be parallel with the front faces of the legs. The
web frame is made from poplar, and is mortise and tenoned
together. When I had all the joints fit, I made a dry assem-
bly of the table. Then I took the pieces back apart so I could
plane, scrape and sand all of them before gluing the entire
table together.
I glued in stages, making subassemblies of front and back
legs, and the top aprons. I cut some angled blocks and at-
tached them to the top of the legs with masking tape so that
The mortise is cut with one plunge of the hollow-chisel mortiser. A piece of
scrap below the cut supports the tenon, keeping the wood from breaking
on the back side.As the tenon key is fi t, the length above and below the through tenon
changes. I leave the key long and mark the length once I have a good fi t.After cutting the key
to length, I round the edges
above and below
the completed joint.1 110-117_LostStickSideTable.indd 115 10 - 117 _LostStickSideTable.indd 115 3 3/25/13 9:54 AM/ 25 / 13 9 : 54 AM