774 4
about^1 ⁄ 8 " deep, and a fine-toothed saw leaves a nice, clean
edge. There are a several ways to make the cheek cuts, and on
the narrow shelves the cheeks could be cut on the band saw.
The cheeks on the lower shelf are too wide for a small band
saw, so I remove the material with a straight bit on the router
table. This leaves a consistent flat surface across the wide
board. These tenons need to fit neatly, but one of the chal-
lenges is that the last cut is the visible surface in the finished
piece. I rout close, but fine-tune the fit by hand.
A Different Rout
I begin the setup by raising the top of the
bit to the bottom of the layout lines on the
ends of the shelves. There is some trial and
error here, so it is best to begin with a fat
tenon, then make minor adjustments until
the machined corner of the tenon will just fi t
in a mortise. Adjustments to the cut are tiny,
because the cuts are made on both sides of
the piece. The difference is twice the amount of the height
adjustment.
I set my combination square to the distance from the end
of the tenon to the shoulder, then use the square to set the
router table fence. I’ve already made the fi nished shoulder cut,
so I set the router bit to just meet the saw kerf. The fi rst pass
is made with the end of the board against the fence. I use a
wide backing board to push the material across the bit and
move the board out with each pass.
When the cheeks are the proper thickness, I place the end
of each shelf on end next to its mortise. I mark all the joints
with a lumber crayon so that I keep the arrangement of the
parts the same as I fi t each joint. I mark the end cuts with a
pencil, then use the combination square to carry those lines
back to the shoulder.
I make the tenon end cuts for the narrow shelves with a
band saw, and stop just before the blade reaches the edge of
the shoulder.
On the wide shelf, material between the two tenons must
be removed. I make a rough cut at the band saw, and aim
wide on these cuts so that when I remove the band-saw marks
I don’t end up beyond the layout lines. I set a guide bearing
on a fl ush-trim bit in the router to ride on the pre-cut edge of
the shoulder and use the router to clean up the junk between
NO. ITEM DIMENSIONS (INCHES) MATERIAL COMMENTS
T W L❏ 2 Ends^13 ⁄ 16 10 31 QSWO*
❏ 1 Lower shelf^13 ⁄ 16 8 33^5 ⁄ 8 QSWO 1^3 ⁄ 4 " TBE*
❏ 2 Upper shelves^13 ⁄ 16 4 33^5 ⁄ 8 QSWO 1^3 ⁄ 4 " TBE
❏ 8 Keys^5 ⁄ 8 5 ⁄ 8 5 QSWO Trim after fi tting
- QSWO=Quartersawn White Oak, TBE=Tenon Both Ends
Stickley No. 74 Book Rack
On your mark. Use the mortise to determine the exact thickness of the tenon.Get set. Set the gauge to half the distance between the pencil line and the edge.Check & go. Mark from both sides to center the tenon and adjust until the
parts match.7 70-77_StickleyBookRack.indd 74 0 - 77 _StickleyBookRack.indd 74 3/25/13 9:57 AM 3 / 25 / 13 9 : 57 AM