Mortise & Tenon -- Hybrid Tutorial

     The project I was working on for my wife was a fairly straight forward frame for a bulletin board she needed in her studio.  For bulletin boards I like to use those 3/4" thick styrofoam sheets you can buy at the local big box store.  They're also great for packing materials but that's another story.  So, what we have is 5/4 Poplar for an approximate 30" square board.  Adding a dowel to go across the bottom for ribbons she uses in her doll crafting plus pegs to hang scissors, french curves, and other pattern making devices she likes to have closes at hand.
     There would be any number of ways to construct this frame but I'm really partial to the tried and true mortise and tenon.  Yes, biscuits would work quicker, Kreg pocket hole joinery is another option, and now Festool has come out with their Domino machine but I'll stick to traditional work.  I'll go through my process and explain why I'm calling it a hybrid.
     First off, in our local woodworking group I'm known as one of the hand tool guys.  My philosophy though is to let machines I have perform the grunt work, similar to what an apprentice would do in a woodshop.  After running the material through the planer to make sure each piece is the same thickness I'll cut the pieces to rough length.  Next would be jointing an edge with a #7 Stanley and ripping each piece to the required width.  Once that's accomplished I use a hollow chisel mortiser to cut the mortises.

Cutting the Haunched Mortise

     As you can see there are stops set up so once that's done on one piece the other is guaranteed to be the same.  I used to cut mortises completely by hand but when I had a commission that needed about 24 of them I figured it was time to open my wallet!
     The next logical step is to cut the shoulders, this is done on the table saw using a sled and of course, another stop block.

Cutting Shoulders

     In this case I clamped a one inch spacer to the rip fence and used that as a stop block to assure the same distance for each.  Since this will be a haunched tenon I cut both of the faces and one edge.  I use an old Delta tenoning jig and make a shallow trial cut first.  Usually I'd have some scrape material to do trial cuts but this is all the Poplar I had!

Tenoning Jig

     After making a shallow cut, the sides are cut off with a dovetail saw and bench hook:

Trial Cut to Fit Tenon

     This is then checked to see how it fits the mortise:

Checking Tenon Fit

 
     Any adjustment can be made to the tenoning jig, I prefer to leave them very slightly oversized and then use a rabbet block plane from Lie-Nielsen to get that perfect fit.

Trimming Tenon Cheeks 

     Through the years I've tried many ways to trim tenons and this is by far, the best method for me.  Chisels and shoulder planes have been tried in the past but for me, the plane allows me to get an even trim on the tenon.  It's wide enough to cover most tenons in one pass and there's enough surface area to make that cut even.  Shoulder planes are narrow and just didn't fit my style.  Notice a good old fashioned bench hook -- went a little crazy with that and used it as an excuse to practice my dovetails.
     Once the tenons fit that way I'd like them to all that's left is to cut the haunch:

Final Step

     Since the haunch location could be slightly different on each mortise (eye-balled to the line) it's important to lay them out by transferring the  measurements from the exact mortise it will be joined to.  As a rule, I'll stamp a letter on each tenon face and mortise with metal working stamps.  Naturally this is put in an area where it won't be seen once the parts are together and it really helps when it's time to glue up.  The final step is to use a chisel to put a slight chamfer on the ends of the tenon.
     So there you have it, what I call my Hybrid Method.  In our woodworking group we've had discussions on using power tools versus hand work.  Many of the members take the position that if the cabinet and furniture makers of old had access to table saws, jointer, planers, etc. they would have surely used them and I'd tend to agree with that position.  Personally, when I first started taking on part time jobs while I was a teacher all I had were the hand tools. If a jobs came up that required a lot of mortises I bought the mortiser,  when I had a lot of book matched panels to make I upgraded the bandsaw, and so on.
     There's a balance all of us woodworkers need to find where we're comfortable doing the work we do.  I strongly favor hand cut dovetails, planed surfaces, hand beaded details, and oil finishes rubbed in by hand.  Once the grunt work is done there's nothing quite as satisfying to me than to finish the project with the quiet work of hand tools.  You know, ask a group of five woodworkers how to do a certain aspect of woodworking and you're liable to get five different  answers!

Walnut Shelf Installed

Walnut Shelf Installed

     I was hoping that my client would come through with getting me a picture of the shelf installed in the custom home they're working on and here it is!  Not sure how they will finish it, my option would be oil and at least 3 coats of my hand rubbed top coats but with a philosophy of time = money that probably won't happen.  I just hope he was pulling my leg when he said they may stain it black :-/.  A couple of coats of lacquer would be a possible option.  Not sure what will be done to finish off the edges by the wall but if possible I'll see if I can get a picture of the completed project as well.

Spokeshave + Cabinet Scraper = Ready for Pick Up

Ready for Pick Up

     Here is the finished shelf waiting for the client to pick it up.  From what I understand this will be installed on a curved wall that will be covered with those long, thin glass tiles.  The ones that remind me of ledge stone you might find on a fireplace or exterior wall but on a much smaller and glitzier scale.  I was told they would take a picture of the installation so I can have it for my portfolio.
     As I talked about in my last blog, the edges needed to be cleaned up and finished since the router bit wasn't long enough to cover the entire thickness.  Here's what it looked like:

Edge and Spokeshaves

     The thing that makes a cut edge appear so much better than one that has been abraded by sandpaper is the clarity.  I guess in political speak that would be "transparency!"  The upper portion of the edge is where the router bit didn't reach.  Notice how much clearer the left side is compared to the right; that's been cut with the spokeshave.  Primarily I used the black, Stanley #151 except on the concave sections of the back that required the bronze, Lie-Nielsen with the radiused sole.  This picture shows the quality of the cut better:

Outer Edge

When it comes to hand tools like spokeshaves and scrapers there's a difference of opinion on whether they should be pushed or pulled.  For me, it really depends on the project and grain direction of the wood.  In this case, pushing the spokeshave seemed the best.  It's easy to spot the difference in the grain color that indicates where it's been cut and which area is still low.  With a large, free-form curve like this you have to let your eye and fingers tell you when it's a fair curve.  Luckily the grain direction was easy to read and there were only two small knots that gave me some difficulty.


     Once the edges were done it was time to work on the faces.  The client wanted to keep a sharp edge on the piece but personally, I hope he cuts it ever so slightly.  Even though I've scraped the board I'm guessing they'll hit it with some sandpaper before the finish the piece.  I started out with a cabinet scraper:

Cabinet Scraper

     This is a tool I always push.  You can see the shavings that are curling out that indicates a well defined burr.  On this tool I use a blade that's been ground at 45 degrees and then add a burr for cutting.  That allows a pretty aggressive cut which was needed to remove the glue and level the surface when the two pieces were laminated together.  Before beginning this step, the board looked like this:

Chatter Marks from the Planer

 
     I tried to capture this but not sure how well it shows.  The chalked in arrow which was my triangular marks for laminating the piece, almost point to an area of those visible chatter marks.  They're caused by the planer as the board is surfaced.  I didn't run this board through my planer but even it, with a helix head, leaves a bit of chatter marks.  I wanted to give them as good of a surface as possible so once the board was done with the cabinet scraper I went to the card scraper for the finish:

Card Scraper

    These will put a blister on your fingers real quick!  I always pull these, to me pushing feels awkward.  Although I've purchased a holder for this from Veritas (upper left on bench) I haven't been able to master that yet -- guess I'm destined to have burned finger tips when it comes to using a card scraper.  I do need to work on my technique with that because I'm giving a demonstration to the Sin City Woodworkers group in June on sharpening and using card and cabinet scrapers.
     Well, now that this is done I can get back to work on the bulletin board for Diane.  Pretty straight forward project with mortise and tenoned construction and a rack to hold ribbons she needs for her Rag Dolls Rising work so I'll blog that as it goes.

No More Noise !!

     Those of you that know my method of working will understand the title of this post.  My philosophy towards the craft is to let the power equipment do the "grunt work" and then, when that phase of work is  complete, switch over to the quieter process of letting my hands and tools do the finish work.  This project is no different.
     Once the glue had cured over-night the pattern was traced onto the Walnut.  I used the bandsaw to get that roughed out.  That was interesting, although I have a pretty large table on the bandsaw maneuvering a 6' long piece of 8/4 Walnut around and sawing to the line was challenging.  This is where the stackable torsion boxes came into play.  By stacking them together they match the hight of the bandsaw table.  Then, with Diane supporting the cut off piece the shape was cut out.
     Routing, ah yes, let's see now; eye protection -- check; ear protection -- check; dust protection -- check.  Okay, I'm ready to do this now:

Ready for Pattern Routing

     The plan is to shape the inside edge first, somewhat of a trial to see how the OSB (oriented strand board) would work as a pattern for the router.  Once the inside pattern matched the template I would re-attach it, line it up exactly to the routed curve, and then proceed to cut the outside curve on the bandsaw.

Two Passes on the Template

     Here you can see how pattern routing works.  There is a bit in the router that has a bearing mounted above the cutter.  This bearing follows the template to trim the piece below it and make it a copy.  Only problem here is that the Walnut is about 1 3/4" thick and then add the 1/2" thickness of the OSB template you'll need a really long bit to cut the entire part.  Don't have one of those and figure why make that investment, a spokeshave will cut cleaner and give a much better finish.
     Along the way I learned why not to use OSB for a template.  It is full of voids which I didn't realize on the back of the shelf but became evident on the front.  Because of the voids the bearing would go into the template a bit which gave me some discrepancies as I routed.  Soon as I saw that I knew it was time to stop and repair the edge.

Template Repair

     I used some putty to build up and reinforce the voided areas.  Once it was dry the areas were sanded smooth to give the bearing a better surface to ride on.  The material I prefer to make patterns from is MDF (medium density fiberboard)  which cuts, files, and sands easily.  Another advantage is that it's very smooth so the router can glide over it easily, OSB has a rough surface that the router base would catch on.  Basically, MDF is a higher grade of particle board that has no grain direction and, most important of all, no voids.  When you do this operation, and your bit isn't long enough to cut the entire thickness, it's done in small passes.  Because the spinning bit can tear the wood out as the grain direction changes it's best to take very light cuts.  Once you're down a quarter of an or so it's best to remove the template and use the area previously cut as your guide.
     Now that all of the noisy machine work is complete it's time to refine the edge with spokeshaves and a block plane.  That's on tap for tomorrow.

New Commission

     Today, as I was starting on a project for Diane I got a commission for an elliptical shaped, hanging shelf.  This should be an interesting project and since it's a paying one I'm sure Diane won't mind if I put her bulletin board on the back burner, so to speak.  This is a job for a custom house and what makes it nice is I didn't have to go and select the material which is 8/4 Walnut.  Here's the material that was delivered to me along with a template made of OSB material:

25 1/2 Board Feet of Walnut

     What you're looking at is about 25.5 board feet of Walnut.  At the price of it these days I better not make a wrong cut or this job will cost me!  I'm hoping that they will let me keep the "scrap" which would make some nice boxes or even a lid panel for a pistol case.  From what I understand, this will be suspended on a curved wall which will be covered with glass tile.  I should be able to get a picture of it once the piece is installed and finished.










     The first step was to figure out the best way to utilize these two pieces to make the required shelf.  I thought it was pretty nice the way the grain matched up but then when I removed the template found a big knot!  After some more trial and error and establishing an even edge I was able to make this configuration:

Edges Jointed, Ready for Glue

     This is where an independent, custom shop like mine can take the time to select exactly how we think the piece will look the best.  You can make out the chalk outline of the shelf, notice the center of the shelf is pretty much the center of the swirl pattern of the Walnut.  This is a small detail that many people won't pick up on but they'll realize it's pleasing to the eye even if they don't know why.  I used my old Stanley jointer plane to prepare the edges for assembly.  My glue of choice for this type of work is Gorilla Glue.  It allows me a pretty good open time and has never failed me yet -- let's keep it that way.
     One of the pieces was laminated around 6pm with the clamps I like to use that create a flat panel.  Around 9pm or so I'll replace them with regular bar clamps and attach the other end.  Once they're set overnight they'll be good to go in the morning.  It'll be a pretty heavy piece of wood to run on the bandsaw.

Reeded 22 kt. Frame Completed

Reeded Frame 22 karat Gold

     After some frustrations and technical problems here is the completed frame.  I have to admit that in spite of my whining there's nothing as exciting as burnishing the gold on a frame and seeing that molten gold look. You just can't get that any other way!  I burnished the leaves, the reeds, and the sight edge.  The panel is left in its matte finish.  I then toned the reeded part only with a mixture of asphaltum and naphtha to warm up that part of the frame.  Design principles say it's good to alternate bands of matte finish with burnished finish for contrast.  I must admit, I really like the way the reeds are contoured down to meet the leaves at the corners.  To me the hand carved reeds are more pleasing to the eye than a machine cut molding.  There's a quote I carry with me but not sure who to credit it to that says: "the beauty of an object made by hand is that it has variations".
    In a previous blog entry I mentioned how we go through all the steps to create a perfect finish and then work to make it look as if it's been around for ever!  I think I accomplished that, here's a close up of one of the corners:

Corner Detail

     I don't mind the faulting in between the reeds, I think it adds to the aged look.  One thing I found interesting are the leaves.  When I scooped out the insides of them there was a undulating texture.  During the burnishing process the lower areas kept the matte finish while the raised areas became bright and burnished.  The matte vs. burnished finish is real evident when you compare the sight edge to the panel.  Now comes the tough part, thinking of putting it on the market and what to price it at.  Anyone on the hunt for a hand carved, 22 karat gold frame?  Size of the sight is 9" x 12" and the molding is 4" wide.  Hope you enjoyed this project and thanks for following along.

Science Lab Part II

Set-Up for Gilding

     Laying the actual 22 karat gold leaf on the frame is called gilding.  It's one of those things I wonder whether I'll ever master but from what I understand, it takes months or years of constantly working at it to feel confident about the results.  Add to that mix my perfectionist, artist personality and you have a process that could end up in ulcers and heartburn!  What you see is the frame with it's red clay (bole) applied.  It's on a platform that is angled so the gilders liquor (distilled water and alcohol) can run to one end of the frame and be sopped up by cotton balls.  The gilders liquor is in the center of the frame, behind it you see the gilders pad which has a book of gold on it.  To the right of it is the gilders knife used to cut the gold, and finally you see the gilders tip which is a squirrel hair brush designed to pick up the gold and lay it on the frame.
     Once the entire frame is gilded it'll look something like this:

Gilding Complete -- almost

     You can see there are several "faults", areas where there isn't any gold either because of a void in the leaf or gilder error.  An area that is tricky to lay the gold into is all of the reeds that go around the frame.  I could have used some yellow clay there so that even if the leaf faulted, the color of the frame would blend in.  Didn't do that for two reasons, first off I didn't have any yellow clay and secondly, I've decided to thin down some asphaltum to age the frames appearance.  I've attended several workshops taught by Marty Horowitz of Gold Leaf FrameMakers  of Santa Fe.  They replicate any period of gold leaf frame and are simply fabulous in the work they do.  Check out his website that I've linked.  He has a great story regarding King Louis of France and why frames have the patina and character that they do.  In days of old, when there wasn't any LED lighting in the castle to show off the portrait of the kings the purpose of the bright gold leaf was to illuminate his portrait.  As time went by, soot and ash from the candles and fireplace (torches?) would deposit onto the frame and the maids would have to clean it off so everyone could see the kings portrait.  As the years went by this created the patina we now try to replicate on modern frames.
     I've always had a bit of a problem with that because why purposely destroy something you've worked so hard to achieve?  Here's the frame after most of the faults were repaired:

Faults Fixed & Ready for Burnishing

     The shine and brilliance is what I like but .... too garish for most applications so the gold is always toned down.  The part of this process that's like magic is the burnishing process.  This is where you take a piece of agate that's attached to a stick and press down hard on the gold areas you want to bring out.  What happens is that this pressing action forces the gold leaf tight against the bole (clay) and the shine is just so cool, always reminds me of a molten ribbon of gold.  You can't get this any other way:

Hounds Tooth for Burnishing 

     I tried to get a close up view of the difference between the burnished and unburnished gold but my camera won't focus that close.  You can see the leaf I'm working on is getting some of that brilliance, the leg at the top of the picture has had the reeds burnished and you should be able to spot the difference.  I chose to lay leaf on the sides of this frame although it's not really required.  Usually there will be a flat, casein finish on the edges since it will stand up to handling better than the gold will.  Since this was the last of my gold leaf I figured might as well go for it.  Last time I checked on the price of gold it was close to $700.00 for a pack of 500 leaves; little too rich for my pension and lack of clientelee.
     In any case, this is a very time consuming process with the possibility of errors or problems anywhere along the way.  I know I can get pretty frustrated doing this process but when you start using your hounds tooth burnisher like I'm doing in the picture, and you see the brilliance of the gold you tend to forget all of the pitfalls you had along the way.