BOOK STORAGEBOOK STORAGE^7777
edges. The outer edge of the mortise is angled by hand to
match the angle of the wedge.
I don’t worry about the angle; I make a sloping cut that
starts^1 ⁄ 16 " away from the layout line. I mark the line, then
press my chisel against the wall of the mortise and swing the
edge down to the corner. Then I stand facing the tenon, put
the edge of the chisel on the line and angle it back by sighting
down the back of the chisel to the edge of the mortise below.
After tidying up the edges of the small mortises, I cut
(^5) ⁄ 8 "-square pieces a few inches longer than needed for the
Angle by eye. Use a chisel to taper the end of the mortise for the wedge.
Just behind. The square end of the mortise lies behind the face of the side
to allow the wedge to seat tightly.
wedges. I carry the layout lines from the mortise to an edge
of the tenons, and mark the slope on each wedge from the
marks on the tenon. I make the angled cuts on the band saw,
then remove the saw marks with a few swipes of a block
plane.
The wedges are seated by tapping them gently with a mal-
let. The sound changes when they are tight. If you hit the wedg-
es too hard, it’s easy to break out the end of the tenon. Should
that happen, the broken piece can be glued back in place.
When the wedges fi t nicely, I mark an equal distance above
and below the tenon, and cut them to length. I make a dis-
crete mark on both the wedge and the inside of the mortise
so the wedges will go back in the same holes to which they
were fi t.
After Everything Fits
After completing the joinery, the book rack is taken apart
for fi nishing. All the parts are exposed, and need to have the
edges eased and surfaces smoothed. The curved portions of
the cutout at the top and the scroll at the bottom of the sides
are smoothed with rasps.
I put a slight bevel on the edges of the shelves and sides
using a block plane for the long edges and a fi ne rasp for the
curved parts. I remove any mill marks from the faces of the
boards with a smooth plane. The ends of the tenons and the
wedges are also eased, starting where these pieces exit their
mortises. The chamfers on these edges gradually increase the
farther away they get from adjacent surfaces.
Original pieces were ammonia-fumed, then shellacked. I
used a combination of oil stain, walnut Danish Oil and shellac
for a similar look.
Hard & soft. Edges on the tenons and keys are beveled, but they fade away
to leave clean lines at the joints.
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