Popular Woodworking 2003-08 № 135, страница 58

A few quick passes are all it takes to cut one side of the rails' tenons, using a dado stack and a miter gauge.

To make your test mortise, first select a piece of scrap from this project. Some sappy waste will do just fine. As a rule of thumb, mortises should be half the thickness of your tenon's stock. Because this project's tenon stock is ³/4" thick, the mortises need to be ³/8" thick. It's also a good idea to make your mortises about ¹/l6" deeper than the tenons are long. This will keep the tenons from bottoming out in the mortises. The depth isn't as important as the width in a test mortise, so simply make your test mortise as deep as your longest tenon is long. Because the rails have ^V'-long tenons and the stiles have 1"-long tenons, your test mortise for this project needs to be 1¹/l6" deep.

If you've never used a hollow chisel mortiser before, check out "A New Manual for Mortisers" (August 2001 issue #123). Cut your test mortise.

Table-saw Tenons

Now it's time to cut the 24 tenons. Sure this sounds like a lot, but with a dado stack and a miter gauge, you'll breeze through this step in no time.

First, install a ⁵/8" dado stack in your table saw. Set the fence for the finished length of your tenon and set the height of the dado stack to about ³/16", which is the depth of your shoulders on your tenon. I cut the rails' tenons first, so the finished length was

³/4". Hold the piece about ¹/16" from the fence and push it through the blade, using your miter gauge. Now hold the piece directly against the fence and, using your miter gauge, push it through the blade again. Repeat this same procedure for the edges of the tenon.

After you've cut your first tenon, make sure that it fits snugly into your test mortise. If satisfied, keep cutting. Remember to set the fence for 1" once you're ready to cut the tenons on the end of the stiles.

2"-2"-

2" 2"

f+⁵ ^

7 ³/4"

39"

8 ³/4"

2"

2" 2"~

Use a test mortise to check the fit of your tenons throughout the tenon-cutting process.This ensures accuracy.

7"

-12"-

r-F

9"

10"

12"

1 ¹/2"

5 1/2"

4—

Plan

-34 ¹/2"

Profile

Section

56 Popular Woodworking August 2003