panel glue up advice

[Jacob]

.....
Wanted to ask you guys what would be the best route for a novice to go on doing mortise and tennon joinery for the aprons and legs......

Use face and edge marks, mark up with pencil, square, marking gauge - either two of them or one mortice gauge. Then practice on lots of offcuts making little T thingies.

 

[Nick b]

Thanks guys,

So I had some time to get back on this project. I cut all the mortises on the router table by marking the width of the bit on some maskin tape on the table and using my lay out lines on the legs to plunge cut and then and match up with the lines on the table. Worked pretty well and I'm left with some consistent accurate mortises for a first attempt although they are round ( not sure yet wether to round the tenons or square the mortises).

In my excitement/haste I went to cut the tenons on the table saw. No special tenon jig just flipping the aprons on the side to do shoulder cuts. They are not the smoothest but should be fine. I was left with some small inconsistencies on the shoulders where they are either raised or lower which I should be able to clean up with a chisel. Problem is I cut one apron to short before the tenon starts can't figure out how I made that mistake. It's shorter by a few millimeters then the rest. I have now started to glue up slices of end grain around the tenon with the hope of building material back up and then hopefully trimming it back square and to the right length to match the other aprons. I no longer have the fence set to where it was so will probably have to edge it close and cut till it matches the others.

Or should I just now cut all the other aprons shorter?

My tendons are also all a little to thick for my mortises. So I thought to take skim passes on the table saw to reduce the thickness consistently till they fit or is it more common to use a chisel on the cheeks till they fit?

 

[woodbloke66]

My tendons are also all a little to thick for my mortises. So I thought to take skim passes on the table saw to reduce the thickness consistently till they fit or is it more common to use a chisel on the cheeks till they fit?

Normal practice is to use a shoulder plane or preferably a rebating block plane to relieve sore tendons or alternatively you can use a decent sized cutter in the router table and just skim them a smidge at a time until they're a snug fit. Much easier to trim the tenons rather than pare away the sides of the mortise - Rob

 

[Nick b]

Thanks rob,

Unfortunately I don't have a shoulder plane and my budget is a little tight this month. Router table would be a good solution but maybe a bit cumbersome on the very long aprons that overhang the table by quite a stretch.

Thought to skim them on the table saw and then block and sandpaper. Will report back with how T goes

 

[MikeG.]

Pare with a sharp chisel. This is actually one of the easier skills to learn. You don't need more kit!

 

[woodbloke66]

Pare with a sharp chisel. This is actually one of the easier skills to learn. You don't need more kit!

Yep, you can of course use a chisel to pare the tenons but it's much easier to use a shoulder or rebating block plane. There is a small danger that you can pare the faces of the tenons unevenly, especially if you've got more than a smidge to take off, so in this instance, IMO the two tools mentioned are a better choice...but, whether you actually need them is a personal choice. FWIW, I had a rebating block plane for several years and never, ever used it (maybe once) as I used to trim all my tenons on the router table.
Not necessary any more.... - Rob

 

[MikeG.]

Pare with a sharp chisel. This is actually one of the easier skills to learn. You don't need more kit!

Yep, you can of course use a chisel to pare the tenons but it's much easier to use a shoulder or rebating block plane.......

It's only easier if you've got one.

The ideal tool, in my view, is a router plane, which ensures evenness of waste removal and thus the centralising of the tenon.

 

[woodbloke66]

Thanks rob,

Unfortunately I don't have a shoulder plane and my budget is a little tight this month. Router table would be a good solution but maybe a bit cumbersome on the very long aprons that overhang the table by quite a stretch.

Thought to skim them on the table saw and then block and sandpaper. Will report back with how T goes

OK, the other way is to cramp the offending rail on the bench and skim the tenons with a cutter held in a router. What you need to do is to build a roughly levelled surface (using scraps of wood screwed to a baseboard) all round the tenon for the router base to rest on or else you'll get the dreaded router 'tip' which you definitely don't want. Works a treat.

I wouldn't use sandpaper or you're liable to round over the tenons - Rob

 

[woodbloke66]

The ideal tool, in my view, is a router plane, which ensures evenness of waste removal and thus the centralising of the tenon.

That would work as well Mike, but you'd need to support both sides of the sole to prevent the handraulic version of the dreaded router 'tip'...(^ above) as the cutter is quite narrow. Lots of ways of doing this job and all work - Rob