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Joins for flat rails and corners

// November 18th, 2009 // furniture

The mortise and tenon joint is very strong because the strength is not compromised as, althoug one third is taken from the mortise section and two-thirds from the tenon , the combined original strength  of the two is restored when they  are glued together.

1. Establish exacly where the joint is to be made, and use the try square to draw square line right around the wood.
2. Set the two pins of the mortise gauge at exactly one-third and two-third of the width of the wood.
3. working from the face side on the both pieces, mark the guide line for the mortise hole and the tenon cut. Draw in these lines with a pencil point.
4. A drill press is useful at this stage to drill out the bulk of the mortise hole. Use a drill bit about  a millimeter narrower than the hole should be. If you do not have access to a drill press, fix the wood firmly in a bench vice and drill out the hole with hand-held electric drill, making every effort to ensure that the drill is vertical to the wood.
5. Cut out the remaining wood in the hole with a mortise chisel and trim off the flat sides with bevel-edge chisel, making sure that the ends and the sides are exactly vertical and parallel.
6. Now on the tenon section. Use the tenon saw to cut down the wood on the scrap side of the tenon lines so that you have a completed tenon, which looks like the one in step 7 below.
7. Fit the join together dry (without glue) and make any adjustment with a board bladed bevel-edge chisel until the join is accurate.
8. When the joins fits well, apply glue to all the surface to be joined and clamp into position. make sure that all the glue that has been squeezed out of the joint is wiped away with a damp cloth.