Making Headway
After planing and spokeshaving the new legs for Vidar's Chair to their final size, I then cut them to length on the table saw. The mortising process followed, just like before. Below, I prepare for cutting the final mortise.
With the joinery completed on the rear legs, I pulled out the rear seat rail and traced the shape of the template onto the part. This, plus the tenon length, determined the overall part length.
After cutting the rear seat rail to length, I cross-cut the tenon shoulders on the table saw.
Switching blades on the bandsaw from 3 teeth per inch to 6 tpi, gives the best possible cut for the tenon cheeks.
With all four sides of the tenons cut on the bandsaw, I then rounded the tenons to fit the mortises.
As I press fit the tenon into the mortise, it leaves shiny marks where the mortise burnishes the tenon.
I then lightly file away the burnishes until I find a good fit.
I positioned the tenon on the rear seat rail so that it is slightly proud of the front face of the leg. This will be planed flush after the rear assembly is completed.
With the tenons fitted, I then bored 1/4" diameter holes in the ends of the rear seat rail. Then, I used dowel centers to transfer the hole locations to the inside faces of the rear legs. Below, I'm boring the matching holes into the legs.
With the rear seat rail now fitted, I then moved on to preparing the rear legs for the next joinery step.
The lower inside face of the the rear legs is tapered 4mm. The photo below shows the resulting 8 mm gap between the side-by-side legs. this creates a need for angled tenon shoulders on the rear stretcher. More on that, next week.
Next, a little surface treatment for the rear seat rail. First, I shaped the outside curve with bandsaw and block plane.
Then, I beveled the edges and rounded them over.
The curved outside edges received grooves every 1/8", or less, using a triangular file. These small grooves will help keep the seat wrap stabilized and prevent it from migrating down the curve when it is pulled tight.
I've been pretty cautious over the last two weeks with the new rear leg material, but everything looks good to go at this point. I'm feeling good about making some headway, once again.
Hej då!
Craig
