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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Cutting big joinery requires some creative solutions

I ran into a bit of a unique challenge in cutting the triple tenons for the solid back for the sideboard.  Because the front of the carcass is really three independent cases, and the sides use frame and panel construction, the solid tenoned back piece provides much needed structural integrity.  However, this piece ends up being nearly five feet long, which make traditional methods for cutting the split tenons either challenging or impossible.  This episode focuses on how I tackled this problem using a nice combination of hand and power tools.  One more testament for a blended shop.

I also specifically wanted to take the opportunity to thank Richard Barret from Birmingham, AL for his very kind words in a comment on the last post.  I have intentionally kept this blog ad free, as I do this purely out of a passion for woodworking.  I don't make a penny from this blog, but feedback like Richard's is worth far more to me than any monetary compensation.  Thanks Richard.

4 comments:

Shannon said...

Nice job so far Rob. You continually represent the sane and reasonable faction of woodworkers who maintain power and hand tool techniques for the best result. I might be sent to heretic school for saying this, but one technique I use to keep a long tenon shoulder like that clean is to remove almost the whole bit of waste then using a crosscut sled, make a climb cut on the table saw. Don't try to do this with any more than 1/32 -1/16 of waste to remove but it makes for a really clean shoulder.

Anonymous said...

He Rob,

Nice video again. got one question the square you use for marking the shoulder; what brand is that? Reason why i ask this is because im looking for a square that as you also mention i can trust for its accuracy.

Best regards from the netherlands,

Ralph

Rob Bois said...

Shannon, I have to say I've never tried climb cutting on my table saw. I can understand why you wouldn't want to try this with any more than 1/16" or so of material. I'm thinking there are probably at least a dozen ways of cutting a good tenon shoulder (power or hand tool) - that might be an interesting video....

Ralph, the combo square I use is a Starrett 12" combo square. Starrett is not cheap but the quality and accuracy is second to none.

Anonymous said...

I have been thinking about starret as well for some time. Also asked some other guys in a dutch forum as well, all mentioned starret would be a good choice. Thanks for the reply and keep making these great video's :)

Ralph