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I said that I wanted to make a few mortise and tenons to see if I was
lucky or "skilled." Well, I found this set of instructions, "Making a
Paneled Door". It seemed to me that it would allow me to practice mortise and
tenons and make a door. It sounded good to me.
While the manual has this section, what I will be following is a set of
instructions that are available as downloads (PDF files) from the WoodRat site. (click here to download.)
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I am not making an exactly
sized door. I have simply cut some scrap poplar to lengths that will serve for this
exercise.
This door will be made with haunched tenons and a groove for the raised panel
door. I will even be making the raised panel using the same straight bits. That will be
interesting to try.
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Even though making the mortise and tenons is getting to be "old hat"
for me, I will still go step-by-step.
The first step is to install the 1/2" straight bit. I will use that for
making the tenons. You can see that I have the acrylic piece with one end notched with the
10mm bit and the other with the 1/2".
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Next, I place
the top rail over the white guide rail and mark both sides of the board.
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I then use the acrylic with
the notches and use the 10mm notch to draw the lines of where I want the tenon. The inset
shows this placement. I purposely placed the notch a bit off center. I want to add more
depth on the front side. Since the front of the joint is facing the wall (right), this
should give me the right offset.
I chose the off center marking for two reasons: 1) I wanted to see if each
corner would match correctly; and 2) it will give me a chance to cut a deeper raised
panel.
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I place on of the rails in
the cutter cam clamp. I will crank it over so that it is under the router bit.
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I have positioned the router bit to just touch the top of the rail. That is
the "zero" position. Now, I use the Hitachi's plunge setting device to set in
the depth of the tenon - I use 3/4". As I said last week, the WoodRat allows
tenons of any height — it is limited only by the length of the bit.
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I
plunge the router (turned off) and move the bit until it comes in contact with the back
side of the rail. I then place the acrylic chip with the 1/2" notch over the guide
rail and position it so that the edge of the notch is lined up with the back mark that I
made of the wood. This positions the acrylic piece to match the position of the bit.
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I use blue masking tape to
fix the acrylic piece in this position. It isn't very elegant but it holds the chip
rigidly — and that counts.
The manufacturer uses a product called blue-tack — a sticky substance
which I haven't located yet.
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I lock the star nut that holds
the router plate and turn on the router. I use the hand crank to move the tail across the
router. I have now cut the back shoulder of the tenon. I now turn off the router and move
the router base so that the notch lines up for the cut of the shoulder on the near side.
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With the star nut locked
again, I can use the hand crank to move the rail to the right and cut the backside of the
tenon.
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And here is my tenon. You
can see that it is slightly off center — hopefully, just the way I want it. Now, I
will do the other three corners.
I have yet to cut the haunches and the shoulders on the ends. That will be
done next.
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