In making Chippendale chairs Ron Clarkson’s book shows how to mark the shoulders for the mortise and teneon joint that connects the top of the rear legs to the crest rail. He shows clamping a straight edge across the splatt and both rear legs to scribe a line, which is the front shoulder. He then takes a square and marks the side shoulders on the rear legs. My problem is that the rear legs already have been bandsawed and have a curve to the front and sides, (In the book, his do as well.) so the square dos not have a reliable surface against which to register to mark the side shoulders. Hence, it is difficult to get rid of a gap in the joint, on the sides and rear, even though the front edge looks tight. What method do people use to mark and cut these shoulders?
Thanks fo the advice.
Jay
Replies
Jay,
You have just discovered one reason why on old sets of chairs, the height can vary as much as 1/4" from one to another!
It can be a challenge to fit this joint. Esp on a chair with curved stiles. The best bet is to try and reference the square off the last inch or so of the stile ( the part that will be sawn away when you cut the tenon's cheek). In theory at least, this will be somewhat consistant from leg to leg. In practice, there will always be some fitting to do. I have made a block with recesses that fit over the end of the leg to lay out the tenons. One recess is, say 5/16 deep, to reference the front cheek of the tenon. By holding the bottom of the recess tightly against the front of the leg and scribing around the edges I lay out that cheek. The 2d recess is say 5/8" deep, (5/16" deeper than the first) for a 5/16" thick tenon. Scribing around that similarly, I have a pair pf parallel lines that describe the cheeks of the tenon.
Once sawn, the crest rail can be dropped over the tenons, and the shoulders fitted. I mark the high spots (where things are touching) on the legs, and pare to fit. Be careful of the tenons bottoming out in their mortises and holding the shoulders up. I'm leery of making adjustments to the rail (although it is easier to pare the face grain here than to trim off the endgrain of the legs), as this is your "true" surface, and I don't like to fudge it-- I make the shoulders on the legs come to the rail.
Once the legs are fitted to the crest rail, you might have to make some adjustment to the length of the splat between tenons to accomodate your fit.
Ray
I'm not sure I'm envisioning your block with recesses. Do you have a photo to post, or could you take one? I have made several of these chairs in the past and there has been a lot of shouulder planing and adjustment and it's a pain. What you do on one leg affects the other leg. Is there any way to cut the tenons and shoulders prior to bandsawing the leg shape/ (ie while the stock is still square?) If so, I can't visualize how. Thanks.
Jay
Jay,
If the leg leans back straight from the seat,(not curved, or spooned) I have cut the legs to length after gluing the legs to the back seat rail- using the top of the rail/ mortise for the splat as a reference, and then cut the tenons by referencing off the cut-to length ends of the legs; standing the assys up on the tablesaw to cut the tenons. If the legs are curved above the seat, it is a hand- work job, I'm afraid. And you are right, if you are removing much mat'l to fit one leg, it does affect the fit on the other leg
Attached is a photo of the various blocks I've made for laying out different chairs' tenons.
Ray
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled