Joinery For The Rails

Now I set up to cut the mortises, grooves, and tenons on the rails. The drawing below shows typical joints for the rails.

The drawing below shows the corner post joinery in plan and elevation, including the groove for the floor. 

I don't need a complete drawing, just enough to be able to understand all the details and transfer the information from the drawing to the workpiece. The construction is the same for all four sides. Only the lengths change. 

I set my marking gauge to the tenon length (1 1/8"). I try to be very precise when I do this and usually have a couple of stabs at it before I am satisfied. I use a ruler with machined markings (to 64th's of an inch) and set the cutter into the proper groove on the ruler. Then I make a test mark and measure it to be sure it is correct.   

I have to use reading glasses and a 10x loupe on occasion to see closely nowadays.

I decided to make a story pole for the rails for this job. A story pole helps cut down on measuring errors and, if I ever make this project again I have the layouts all ready to go! Here, the story poles are laid on top of the workpieces. It is often difficult to see the markings on the small version of the photos. Click on any photo to see it larger.

Here I am using a square to even the ends of the story pole and the workpiece up before transferring the marks. I then use a square to mark across the edge.

I used the story pole to mark out the mortise locations and the locations of the edges of the stiles. I then set up the mortise machine and cut the mortises. Then I set up the table saw for cutting the tenons. I am using a General tenon sled. Once it is set up it works well but it is a bit difficult to adjust. 

After cutting the cheeks I changed blades and set up the crosscut sled to cut the shoulders.

Here are the tenons all cut.

Next I had to re set the height of the slot cutter. I turned the plywood fence piece over and made another cut after re setting the height. I then cut all the grooves. 

After the grooves are completed

Now I'll make the tenons and grooves for the stiles and start fitting parts. I hope you check back and see how it's going.