I’m trying to make that joint that is used to join the front and rear legs to a rocking chair. I did it once before when I made a rocker for my daughter and remember thinking there has to be an easier way. Now I’m making one for myself and that challenge has come up once again. Right now I’m using a router and a jig to make the male part of the joint (on the seat) and a router to remove most of the wood on the female part (the legs) followed by a lot of chisel work and careful fitting. The results, so far, on a “practice” chair are okay but…there has to be a better way.
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Replies
Can you offer a little more detail about the specific joint and the parts they will be cut into? Are these round parts or square? Are you cutting mortise-and-tenon joinery? Do the joints need to accommodate angled parts?
Your description of the male and female parts of the joint don't make sense to me. I would think the leg gets the male and the seat gets the female, not the other way around.
If you could post a sketch or photo of the chair or of the joint even better. (you can search the chairs section of our online gallery to find a similar example).
Finally, it sounds like you are doing the right thing by cutting most of the joint with a router and a jig and cleaning up with a chisel. This might not be ideal for production work, but if you are just making one chair it should be sufficient.
Looking forward to your reply,
Matt Berger
Fine Woodworking
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