The Lid, Part Two: Breadboard Ends

I cut the top to length after glue up is done. There will be two 2 1/4" wide breadboard ends, each with three 1 1/2" deep mortises and a continuous 3/4" deep groove. They will overhang the sides 3/4", so I cut the top to the outside length of the front.

Now I lay out the pieces for the breadboard ends. I am making them a bit thick and will plane them even after the breadboard ends are glued on.

There will be three mortises in each end as well as a groove.

I mark the start and end points for mortising,

then transfer the marks to the top.

I check the set up one last time and I make the mortises.

I then run the groove using the dado head on the table saw. I set it up so I would make two passes, one each side. That will give me a perfectly centered groove that lines up with the mortises.

As I push the piece through the saw I can feel the resistance lessen as the dado head enters each mortise.  It is rewarding to also hear that the dado head is not cutting anything when it passes through the mortise. My set up is right on.

Now I set up the router table to cut the tenons for the breadboard ends. I put the largest rabbet bit I have (3/4") in the collet.

It will take three passes each side to cut the tenons and tongue this way but I don't want to use the dado head or run something this large through the table saw on end. I make a few test cuts with the offcuts of the top and then I have at it.

I am using a backer block to keep the back side from blowing out when the bit comes through. It's on top of the board in the photo below as I need that hand when I start the cut. This isn't as awkward as it looks. While more table in front would be nice, the table is wide enough to register on.

With tenon length cut I mark the locations of the rip cuts from the mortises in the breadboard ends. I used a jig saw to make these cuts. The scrap piece keeps the baseplate of the jigsaw off the work.

The crosscuts are also made with the jigsaw, except for the ends. I cut them a bit long and I'll trim them with a chisel after I get the tenons fit.

I must have let the top drift a little on one side when I was routing the tenons. I should have used a featherboard somehow to hold it down.

It's not much, about a 32nd of an inch, in the middle. I'll use my shoulder plane to fix that.

The tenons are too tight so again with the shoulder plane.

And after some more fussing around the breadboard ends are fitted and ready to glue.

I'll get this glued up but I want to get the top surfaced for finish first. Then I can plane the BB ends down to the level of the top and not have to try to work up to crossgrain. When your tool is sharp it is a delight to use hand planes.

Thanks for taking a look. There's more to come so check back soon!

Mortising The Legs

The first thing I want to do when I set up the mortiser (after setting the drill bit projection) is to make the chisel square to the fence. I used a scrap piece of wood for this. I set my marking gauge to 3/8" and scribed a parallel line along one side.  I then adjusted the bit to cut parallel to my line. I then made a series of tests to set the fence. The cuts on the left are the tests.

I set the gauge to 3/8" because, from the face of the leg, I want a 1/8" reveal, and a 1/4" shoulder on the tenon. You can see below that I am a little (about 1/128" I would guess) off the line. This is really close enough. The ruler is marked in 64th's of an inch.

After all that I still want to use a test piece when I set up the machines. I made a piece of scrap maple to the same dimensions as the leg stock. It is a little short but I will be able to test all my cuts before machining the actual leg material.

This mortise machine has a riser block installed at the base of the column to allow for mortising wide/tall material. This makes it too tall to mortise 1 1/2" material so I use a scrap piece screwed to the fence for a riser making it unnecessary to change the riser block at the column.

The test looks great so on to the legs.

Legs all mortised. I have bandsawn the curve on my maple test piece also.

Next, I'll finish the leg work and start on the rails. Thanks for taking a look. Check back and see how it's going. 

Blanket Chest Joinery

With the walnut lumber having sat now for almost a month since being cut open, I can bring this material to dimension. I had to flatten everything again and then plane to thickness. I used the table saw to rip to width, and a cut off sled to make the crosscuts. Now I need to get ready to cut the joinery.

For the legs I need to cut mortises with grooves between, as well as the "foot" detail. Here is my shop drawing of a leg as well as a plan view detail and an elevation detail of the bottom rail joinery.

A few details may change as I am still thinking through where the floor seats in a groove in the bottom rails. I want to also seat the floor into the legs and am also thinking of rabbeting the inside of the leg flush with the inside of the rails. Mainly I am thinking about whether this will remove too much material and compromise strength and stability. 

I recently purchased a set of slot cutters for the router and am planning on using them to cut the tongues and grooves for this project. This set (from Lee Valley tools) includes a variety of shims to adjust the width of the tongue or groove. It includes a pretty comprehensive set of instructions.

I started checking dimensions for the cutters I wanted to use and found my 1/4" hollow chisel mortise bit is slightly larger  (about 15/1000s) than 1/4". The slot cutter can make that dimension for a tongue and a groove but I will need to do some test cut first.

I am using a new bit for my mortise machine and as you can see, the drill bit shank is too long and needs to be "docked".

I want to do a neat job so I make a holder of hardwood by drilling a hole the size of the bit shank in a block and sawing it in half. I can then put the bit in the hollows and clamp the block. This gives me something I can clamp in a vise or hold on to while I hacksaw the bit to length.

I have a few different sized holes in this block. I also have a block sized for a 1/2 inch bit. I run the hacksaw against the side of the block and use a file after to smooth the cut.

Now I can make a test mortise and size the winged cutters for a test groove.

I am pleased with the results using the mortise machine and the winged cutters. I was able to size the groove to fit the mortise and, in two tries, line the mortise up with the groove cutters.

Next time, more joinery details.