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measurements and check the fi t by placing a corner in the mortise.
When the corner can be placed in the mortise I stop. The tenon
will be too tight at this point, but it will be close to fi tting. The last
little bit of thickness will be removed with a fl oat in the next step.
The tenons can be cut at the table saw, but that introduces
some risk, and it can be awkward to hold the work on end against
a miter gauge or crosscut sled. Cutting the tenons by hand is as
fast and accurate. After double-checking the layout and mark-
ing with a knife, I cut the long edges of the tenons, and the two
outside edges by hand.
The waste in between the two tenons is another story. I cut
most of it away with a jigsaw, then clamped a straightedge along
the shoulder. With the straightedge in place, I cut a clean edge at
the shoulder line with a fl ush-trim bit in the router.
Before testing the fi t, I cut a slight chamfer around the inside
edge of the mortise, and around the outermost end of the tenon.
This helps to get the tenons started for fi tting, and keeps the
tenon from chipping out the grain on the outside of the mortise.
Fitting these joints is a bit like detective work. In theory, they
should fi t at this point, but in reality there will be a bit of wood
somewhere that keeps the joint from going home. When the joint
sticks, these points need to be found and removed. If you guess
and remove material in the wrong place, the result will be a gap in
the fi nished joint.
Fit Without a Conniption Fit
I push the tenons in as far as I can, then tap on the end of the
board a couple times with a dead-blow mallet. When I was
younger and my eyes were better, I could see the shiny spots
on the tenon where the joint is too tight. These days, I pull out
a pencil and draw cross-hatched lines on the tenon and try the
fi t again. The graphite smears where the joint rubs, showing the
high spots. These can be removed with a shoulder plane, but
16"
11 ⁄ 4 " 11 ⁄ 4 "
11 ⁄ 4 "
21 ⁄ 4 "
23 ⁄ 8 "
23 ⁄ 8 "
6"
(^1) ⁄ 2 "
(^1) ⁄ 2 "
(^3) ⁄ 4 "
41 ⁄ 2 "
2"1" 2"
1"
You need more clamps. The mitered lap joints in the center of the assembly will tend to pop up
as clamp pressure is applied to the ends. Battens across the faces hold things together.
Payday. Flush the surfaces of the completed joints with
a sharp block plane, and take a moment to feel proud.
Then get back to work; there are a bunch of these.
Build, don’t cut. Assemble small pieces around the layout lines, then use a
router with a fl ush-trim bit to make the mortising template.
TEMPLATE
And swing it. Keep the back of the chisel pressed against the routed edge of
the mortise and carefully rotate the edge into the corner.
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