Popular Woodworking 2008-10 № 171, страница 16

a small step bet wren the legs and the aprons and st retchers. Gauging from the mating faces will make my work easier.

Mortising

Thereare various monisingtechniqucs. Period craftsmen may haw chosen todrill and pare. Carpenters certainly did this. I believe there is some evidence of this technique in some fine furniture includingchairs. but that's just guesswork on my pan. Some craftsmcn prefer to chop mortises using stout joiner's mortise chisels. The technique I use is based on a paragraph in Moxon's"Mcchanick Exercises" titled "Of the Paring Chisel." It probably is not how-period craftsmen cut mortises, but it works so well, and the other methods arc so well-known, that I feel it'sworthshowinghcrc.

Tenons

I don't have any special technique for cutting tenons but 1 do have a few special tools. I made mysclfa fixed-pin momsinggaugesimilarto the one in the surviving 18th-century tool chest that belonged to Benjamin Scaton. I filed the pins fiat on the inside, which makes marking tenons a snap. The arm has four sets of pins.each sized precisely toamonisechisel in my set. I use two long hacksaws (one rip.

An old fasorite. You Vr KW this finish work before. It's EnseedoU and shoe polish oser mUk paint, famed stooh and formes were often painted. Ihep.tint would have been oH-hase<l lead paint. Less lead or advanced wear would make that sort of paint look a bit mote t&e this. I think the red cast in the black walnut top complements and contrasts with the green paint.

Custom gauge. My mortising gauge has sets of pins fried for four of my most often used mortise chisels. I set my gairge to creak' a small offset betsseen the leg and the apron.

one crosscut)tosaw the chccksand shoulders. One tool I don't have or use isa shoulder plane. 1 much prefer a chisel for this job. The errors I make sawing arc rarely uniform enough for a plane to be helpful.

Assembly

Furniture like this is always pegged. Making the pegs is the next step. You want bone dry. riven (split) hardwood stock. If a peg breaks while you are driving it. it can be wry difficult to remove. I drawborcd all of my joints. 1 used a piece of walnut fe>r the top to match the table thisgocswith. The topsof these were typically fastened to the legs with angled pegs.

Conclusion

I know this probably isnt the son of item t hat excites would-be period woodworkers. To make matters worse. I think I spent a wxek of hard work building this thing Butbclicw it or not. this is a really useful piece of furniture for a big family or folks who love to

Bottoms up. I knenv 111 have to plane the tops of the aprons, so I used the bottom as the reference face. Unfortunately, the moulding presented me from accessing this (ace directly. But sticking moulding after you Vc cur the angled tenons on the end can be a drag. So I'm using nty straight-edge to help.

I

\ot too shabby. The finished joint k>oks surf>ris-ingfygoodtome.

entertain and share meals with lots of their friends. Most important, it's a fantastic way to get in touch with the craft of 17th-century joiners. Their tools, skills, joints and guild became building blocks of the 18th-century baroque movement that produced some of the finest furniture yet made. PW

IVuf Adam '» blog at a/tsandmys»iv>n.com ior morv <t^vsskjni^Ua(kxMSMlss\xxhsv>ijngleihntqws.

weH.iOtek.My noodssorking buddies probably wool slap me on the back for this project, Ixit it was fun and the finished forme with ks attending (and easier to build I refectory table isn't without its own elegance.

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