There has been progress on the porch rocker this week. The four legs and two cross rails have been cut out of mahogany and the mortises and tenons to join all the pieces have been shaped.
While the initial carving out of the mortise can be done on a drill press, they have to be finished by hand to make sure they’re straight, clean and smooth so that the tenons will fit properly.
That means lots of patience. A sharp hand chisel is your best friend. Trying to hurry through this step will almost always spell disaster. It also means that progress seems slow with not much to show for it, but the end result is worth it, like knitting lace.
Straight shouldered tenons
Remember, mortises are the cavities cut in the wood to receive the tenon which is shaped on the end of the second piece of wood. Female (mortise) and male (tenon). And of course one piece of wood can have both a mortise and a tenon like above.
Checking the fit
Dry fitting the rail and legs and rocker all together.
After the pieces are cut, they’re dry fit together to make adjustments before the glue up.
By the way, in a woodworker’s shop, clamps are like knitting needles, you can never have enough. Notice the rack of clamps in the background of this photo (the red and black things under the pink cabinet). There’s another rack of clamps on another wall and some small ones that hang out by the work bench. As many of Jack has, it’s not uncommon to hear that he doesn’t have the right size for the job and ends up improvising. Sound familiar?
How fabulous!
Lovely! I’ve gotten a little bit of the wood working bug and am threatening to make a headboard while he’s gone this time.