I am working on some chairs that have a 4.5 degree angled tenon on the side rails and side stretchers. I have no problem cutting the cheeks of the tenon at the angle by setting my blade correctly. The issue comes when cutting the shoulders so they line up correctly so the rails will set into the legs without a gap. Prior to this I have used slip tenons cut into the angled side rails which works fine. However, I am looking for a faster way to cut the angled tenons and shoulders. Any suggestions on how to get the shoulders to come out correctly positioned?
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Replies
Have done same very recently. I used a tenon jig and a wedge (4.5 degree also) to cut both the cheeks and the shoulders simultaneously using a dado
blade. After cutting the first cheek and shoulder I inserted a spacer for the second cheek and shoulder. Important to back up the piece with a robust sacrificial board to prevent ]tearout.
This is basically following a suggestion of Mike Pekovich, though he does not use a dado blade. This requires one to cut the shoulders in a separate operation with the wedge laid flat on the table.
See attached photos.
I also just recently made a set of 4 chairs with angled tenons. Like you I cut the cheeks with the tenoning jig. For the shoulders I used the bandsaw with the miter gauge set to the same angle.
I appreciate the responses I have gotten. Using a dado blade with the tenoning jig is a good suggestion. After finishing my chair project using the wedge and tenon jig method I have decided to go back to using slip tenons for angled tenons. I think it is faster and has a lot fewer steps plus all the shoulders are cut perfectly when the angle is cut on the stretchers and rails. I was trying the wedge and tenon jig method to see if it gave me better results but find there are too many steps to finish things up and too many opportunities to make mistakes.
Hotdogman,
I was wondering why you were originally choosing to go with mortise and tenon after having used loose tenons. I just finished up a small table with splayed and raked legs using mortise and tenon joints and have been asking myself why I didn't use loose tenons, lol. My experiences match your observations. I enjoyed the exercise, and may use it again after lots of practice, but way too much thinking and possibility of mistakes.