NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1983, No. 43, $3.50 Making ... - Wood Tools

More documents

Recommendations

Info

piece. Drying takes four to eight hours (depending on size) at 200°F. Over 200°F causes too much internal checking; at 400 ° F you get charcoal. Check dryness by rotating the tenon between your fingers: when it won't get any more oval, it's dry. With a little experience, you can turn juSt oversize enough so that joints will pop together (with a large hammer) with no further fitting. The larger diameter fits tight against the mortise end-grain; the smaller diameter is JUSt snug on the sides. For %-in. tenons, I allow %4 in. oversize (7Yz%). You can start there, and adjust for your woods and bits. For an angled joint, you can chamfer the shoulder of the tenon and one side of the mortise. Make the mortise extra deep so that the shoulder will seat. Shrinkage may open the joint a little, but it will still look good. The incredible duckbill spoon bit joint There is no one way to drill round holes in round sticks. I have used auger bits, Forstner bits, Power Bore bits, multispur bits and spade bits to make chair joints, and I have a few more ideas. Modern bits, however, have drawbacks. You don't want a leadscrew or a point projecting ahead of the cutting edge, where it will poke through the other side of the chair leg before the mortise is deep enough. You don't want a flatbottomed hole-because its bottom profile limits the size of the tenon, as explained below. Nor do you even want the hole to be truly round, because an oval hole conforms better to the tenon. Chairmakers traditionally used the duckbill spoon bit, and its peculiar quirks combine to make the ideal mortise for green-wood chairs. The duckbill even turns the spoon bit's main shortcoming, boring slop, into a virtue. Disturbed grain ...I-1rn- -End grain Long grain Spoon bits cut deeper in end grain than in long grain, producing an oval hole with characteristic tearout where the cutting edge makes the transition from a paring CUt to a scraping cut. Squarebottomed mortise Roundbottomed duckbill mortise Rounded corners in round stock make for a stronger chair. If the mortise were square-bottomed, both mortise and tenon would have to be smaller. 72 By canting the duckbill bit during boring, you can CUt the lower and upper walls of the mortise deeper, into a dovetail shape, without enlarging the opening or the sides. Tenons are turned green, then dried. The tenon shrinks to an oval cross-section during drying, which automatically helps it conform to the oval mortise. In side view, the tenon should be shaped to conform to the mortise's dovetail profile, so that it will bear tightly against the end grain in the leg. The end of the tenon is larger than the mortise opening, but the green wood in the chair leg is compressible enough that the tenon can be pounded home. The sides of the tenon are relieved, so as not to split the chair leg as it dries and shrinks. If a joint does not split when a tenon is pounded home, or very shortly thereafter, it is most unlikely to split later, unless the mortise is near the end of the stick. In a test piece, drive home a series of increasingly larger tenons until the leg splits, listening to the difference in sound as the peg seats. When it comes time to make the chair, drive home the size tenon just smaller than the one that split the mortise. One caution: Immediately after assembly, the dry tenon absorbs moisture from the green leg and swells, while the chair leg shrinks tighter against the sides until the leg is fully dry-if the sides of the tenon have not been relieved enough, the leg will split, starting in the areas of disturbed grain left by the spoon bit. The same process of green-turning and sand-drying works with tapered leg-to-seat joints. I ream the hole in an air-dried pine seat, then fit the tenon with a cabinetmakers' rasp. With the leg properly oriented (major diameter against end grain), I rotate FWW it back and forth a little. Then I file off the shiny spots, JUSt like lapping the valves in a car. Repeat this until the leg D feels really solid in the seat and is at the proper depth. Some angular correction is possible, and often needed. Dave Sawyer, the green-wood chairmaker featured in #33, was trained as a mechanical engineer and now makes Windsor chairs. You can get spoon bits from Conover Woodcraft Specialties, 1nc., 18125 Madison Rd., Parkman, Ohio 44080. by John D. Alexander With cyclical changes in humidiry, the mortise depth lengthens and shortens as the leg shrinks and expands. The length of the tenon, however, does not change. In the ordinary dowel joint, this creeping mortise eventually breaks the glue joint. In the duckbill joint, because of its dovetail shape, as the mortise changes, the tenon tends to remain wedged tight because it swells and shrinks in height. The duckbill joint does not rely on a glue bond, although glue doesn't hurt. The joint, once assembled, can't be easily taken apart. If something goes wrong during assemb1y, the only solution is to saw off the tenon at the mouth of the mortise, bore it out and start again. In extremely dry weather, the tenon may rattle in the mortise, but its shape prevents it from coming Out. Because of all its virtues, you might think this joint would last forever, but if the joints are toO dried-out, the chair will be wobbly, and the leverage effect at and within the mortise will eventually break the joints down. In a similar manner, extremes of humidity, such as in outdoor use, will sooner or later destroy the chair-there is opposing wood movement built into chair joints, and wood, once its compressible limit has been exceeded, cannot recover to normal size. D
British woodworking at The Studio in Miami. Even in the more colorful examples, the legacy of the Arts and Crafts movement is strong: bold rectilinearity and straightforward construction. British Enter Miami New gallery imports current work from Europe by Rick Mastelli Americans haven't had much opportunity to see contempo Il.. rary European woodwork. Museums may be full of venerable English and French period furniture, but the only exposure most of us have had to what's being done lately across the Atlantic is through photographs. With the opening last spring of Charles Nesbit's Studio in Miami, Fla., a gallery devoted to work by British and eventually also by other European craftspeople, winter vacation plans can include a firsthand look at what the Old World is up to. Nesbit has just moved into a 2500-sq.-ft. space in the Decorative ArtS Plaza in Miami's thriving design distria. On display when I visited last April were some 35 pieces by 17 of the better-known woodworkers in England. The vitality of the designs and the quality of the craftsmanship were at least equal to that of most gallety-displayed woodwork in this country. Many of the themes-color in wood and Post-Modernist whimsy-have become familiar to us as avant-garde. But here these practices took on sober respectability. They seemed not fads, but the most recent installments in an eminent tradition. Anchored by the straightforward, rectilinear precedents of the Arts and Crafts movement, the British seem to come to design by way of craftsmanship, rather than the opposite tendency here in America. Nesbit, a British-educated economist who retired from his own consttuction company to pursue full-time his avocation of collecting art and craft, describes the situation this way: "British craftspeople work no differently today than they ever have. They have the same modest workshops and serve the same class of patrons. Time is probably of less concern to British woodworkers than it is to Americans. Quality work is less extraordinary." See what you think from the photos on the following three pages, but if you get to Miami, don't miss the real things. Nesbit's studio (at 400 1 NE 2nd Ave.) is open weekdays, and in the spring he plans the first of what he hopes will be an annual event-a super-show of 100 pieces of furniture, all from Europe. The Events column in a future issue of FWW will list the dates. (continued on next page) Rick Mastelli is an associate editor of Fine Woodworking. 73
Page 1 and 2:
1 1 1 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1983, No. 4
Page 3 and 4:
FINE WOODWORKING Editor John Kelsey
Page 5 and 6:
& PHILADELPHIA & November 11th, 2-1
Page 7 and 8:
HARPSICHORDS &: FORTEPIANOS Harpsic
Page 9 and 10:
Forstner Bits- �:I.� === Planl
Page 11 and 12:
HILLER HARDWARE CO. ASSURES ITEM PU
Page 13 and 14:
Nu-Life Sanding Belt Cleaner • In
Page 15 and 16:
Delmhorst Wood Model Moisture G-30
Page 17 and 18:
How To Make National Builders Hardw
Page 19 and 20:
Keen-Edge Co. presents Oldham Carbi
Page 21 and 22: A by Roy Underffill new The Woodwri
Page 23 and 24: ______________________ ____________
Page 25 and 26: I" by Black & Decker Black & BRAND
Page 28 and 29: offers a complete range of small, b
Page 30 and 31: 30 3/a" 6010DL CORDLESS DRILL KIT P
Page 32 and 33: ________ �Wrking_ ��::::::--:
Page 34 and 35: Miters, tape and glue I use ordinar
Page 36 and 37: ox, then cur the lid off later, com
Page 38 and 39: · .1: Fig . Proportions · section
Page 40 and 41: 57 Fig. 2: The five parts of a tote
Page 42 and 43: .;A Shop�esting Five Jointer-Plan
Page 44 and 45: duction motor, the Emco has plenty
Page 46 and 47: · , Four lmpowered bed rollers sup
Page 48 and 49: JOInter is nice, but what good is i
Page 50 and 51: Cutting Dovetails With the Tablesaw
Page 52 and 53: Goats Get Jitn Pritchard How a home
Page 54 and 55: Bookmatched doors hinged on conceal
Page 56 and 57: Scribe strip fits bumpy walls In a
Page 58 and 59: After glue-up, the fiberboard and e
Page 60 and 61: Itnproving the Fretsaw Pivot guides
Page 62 and 63: Which Glue Do You Use? Chemical typ
Page 64 and 65: Adhesive Hide glue (hot)· (Behlen
Page 66 and 67: Disc Sander Sculpts Tur nings A way
Page 68 and 69: After the grooves are cut on the pl
Page 70 and 71: Spoon Bits Putting 17th-century hig
Page 74 and 75: 74 Martin In this gate-leg table, a
Page 76 and 77: Entitled "The Nash House, No. 1 Cor
Page 78 and 79: 1: Fig. Proportions of the Ionic or
Page 80 and 81: S.c., Adapted from an original buil
Page 82 and 83: . HJUSE 131 -12th Avenue S.E., Calg
Page 84 and 85: Building Your Own Kitchen Cabinets
Page 86 and 87: Some Great Magazine Gift Ideas Fine
Page 88 and 89: HAND-HELD LAMINATE AND VENEER SLITT
Page 90 and 91: 90 A Subsidiary of VA VIiAMONT AM.A
Page 92 and 93: 10" CONTRACTORS TABLE SAW Cast Iron
Page 94 and 95: The World's F-mest Chisel Has Been
Page 98 and 99: 98 • LU REM Combination Woodworke
Page 100 and 101: Woodworking Plans & Projects A full
Page 102 and 103: NOTES AND COMMENT Have you outgrown
Page 104 and 105: Notes and Connnent (continued) 2x2
Page 106 and 107: Notes and Conunent {continued} wood
Page 108 and 109: Notes and Connnent (continued) read
Page 110 and 111: Notes and Connnent (continued) mote
Page 112 and 113: Events 15 15; ALABAMA: 15 15. 15, 1
Page 115 and 116: 5/4 8/4 Moh Box be to Call or write
Page 117 and 118: all CLASSIFIED per CT The CLASSIFIE
Page 119 and 120: CANADIANS: High quality machinery a
Page 121 and 122: CHE ClICClNe; E6e;E ® JOE WORKBENC
Page 123 and 124:
Now you can own the Rockwell 13" Pl
show all

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1983, No. 43, $3.50 Making ... - Wood Tools

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?