I’m in the middle of making my first workbench. I’m doing it mostly by hand, I’m very new to woodworking.
I have 3 1/2-inch pedistals I’m going to join to the legs with mortise and tenons. As such, using the rule of thirds, I’m cutting a 1 3/4 inch mortise to receive the leg tenon. I drilled out the mortises on the first pedistal with a drill press and set about removing the waste to a square corner using a corner chisel and straight chisels. But as I neared the bottom of the mortise, I blew out the mortise on the bottom, splintering the wood surrounding the mortise
Now it is the bottom, so I’m not freaking out, but I would like to improve on this as I cut the other three.
So my question: Should I score the mortise from the bottom to avoid blowout, or fit a tighter piece of wood to the underside of where I’m cutting? I cut the first one with the pedistal on the ancient bench I’m replacing with my new one for support. Not exactly tight and flush to the base of the pedistal, which is why I’m presuming I cracked so much of the bottom up.
Cut from both ends– or support the bottom better? Which is more improtant?
Thanks guys and gals, learning something new every day on this one…
Michael
Replies
Sorry-- I should mention-- the tenons will be wedged and drawbored.
Michael
Michael
Usually when doing a through mortice you carry your layout around to the opposite side and work from both sides to the middle.I would drill from both sides as well. Make sure you maintain your drill alignment or you could end up with a skewed mortice.
Good luck with the remainder and post some pictures of your progress
wot
Michael,
You're attempting difficult joinery as a first-time exercise in M&T work. Simply, the depth of the mortise presents challenges that shallower ones wouldn't. Sometimes it takes less time to learn on simpler projects, then complete a harder one than to start with the hard one first.
As Wot advised, it's usual to cut the mortise from both sides. But unless your stock is perfectly square (and it should be), it is impossible to accurately locate the mortise "exit." With the work square, a knife line started on one face and taken all around the piece should exactly meet it self. If that's the case, and your tri-square and marking guage are accurate, lay out and mark both ends of the mortise and work inward as suggested.
But there is no one way to do anything in wood working. It is certainly possible to cut all the way through from one side. It is difficult to accurately drill and chisel such a deep hole, however.
It can be done. But it doesn't usually seem to come out right the first time. It does take some experience and success comes with repetition. The wood should not splinter if you have the piece firmly clamped against a backing surface that mates perfectly flat with the work. That is, the backing must be a wood hard enough to take the pounding and cut cleanly itself and have no surface irregularities that would allow the wood fibers of the work piece to be unsupported.
What kind of wood are you using? Soft woods splinter much more than hard woods. Lastly, is your chisel razor sharp? It must be to avoid splintering.
Rich
Rich, your reply cracked me up. Not because of you, but because only I would pick the hardest imaginable thing to try, for a first attempt at joinery.
Thank you for the suggestions. I'm clamping the next one down! Then cutting from both sides... The bench is maple. And, as usual, I'm learning in the school of hard knocks.
What an interesting adventure!
Michael
Michael,
You are getting good advice already.
You are definitely taking on a scale and style of joinery that would challenge an expert woodworker. You should practice making the joints on some scrap until you are sure of how to do them before starting in on the wood that will be used in the bench. I would suggest scrapping the corner chisel they are a cute idea but don't work well in practice.
Also you cannot both draw bore and wedge a mortise and tenon joint.
>Also you cannot both draw
>Also you cannot both draw bore and wedge a mortise and tenon joint<
John, with all due respect why not?
I am currently building a bench and draw bored and wedged my through tenons. While this may be over kill I felt it added some extra strength as the ones I used this procedure on went through 7" legs. I relieved the edges of the mortises with a slight angle part way down into the mortises as shown in the pics so the wedge would flare in to the mortise much like a dovetail.
Tom
go,
Ever see the movie Once Upon a Time in the West?
The Henry Fonda character says of a fella who is wearing both a belt and suspenders:
"I don't trust a man who doesn't trust his own britches." ;-))
Have seen some old work that was both pinned and wedged. It's always a question whether the one or the other was added later as a repair to a joint that had loosened, and yet couldn't easily be disassembled.
Ray
I guess I got a bit carried away Ray.
I can tell you this there will be no joint failures here , Here is a pic of the final glueup, heart got to racing on these.
Through tenons on the legs into the pedestals. Bolted blind tenons on the stretchers into the legs.
Just working the legs and pedestals at the moment.
Michael
So how did you install a draw pin after wedging the tenons? It doesn't show in the pictures.
A drawpinned joint requires you to assemble the joint and mark the pin hole location on the tenon through the predrilled holes on the mortise cheeks and after which you have to disassemble the joint to drill the hole, slightly off center, in the tenon. The joint is then reassembled and the pin is driven home. It seems that the pin and the wedge would interfere with each other unless you went through a lot of extra work, although it would be possible I suppose.
In any case doing both wedging and drawpinning in the same joint shouldn't be neccessary, either method produces a connection that is very strong.
Tom
Just to be really sure you could have extended the tenons out past the mortice and through tenoned them as well with a wedge. There you go, mortice and tenon glued, pinned,wedged and finished with anothe through wedged tenon. That sucker will never move. There forever!
wot
Wot ,
Dang..... I should have thought of that,. a man after my own heart.
Tom
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