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It's rather easy. You move the wood to where you want the dado to start, turn the router
on and plunge. The brush holds the wood quite firmly in place, and it is easy to see the
marks I had made for the start and finish points.
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Here is the part I didn't like.
You push the wood through the cutter, and you cannot see where your hands are. When I read
this part, I said "no way — not my hands." In fact, the operation is easy
and simple — and perfectly safe. You may lose sight of your fingers under there, but
you always have sight of the router bit. [Note: while that is true, I am presently making
an auxiliary jig that will hold the wood. I will report on it (if it works) at the end of
this section.]
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While
cutting the dados went well, the end pieces are as small as I want to handle by manually
feeding. Fact is, I now have two boxes with perfect dovetailed corners and bottoms
that fit quite nicely.
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Mortise and Tenons
Next, I want to tackle mortises and tenons. The
instructions show a mortising rail that you need to make. I have cut a piece of MDF that
fits between the two cam clamps. I have cut holes and am now cutting out sections for
clamps to reach through.
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I have cut two
pieces of 5/4" pine and have positioned them in the two clamps.
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I have added glue and am
now attaching the plate with countersunk screws
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This mortising rail accessory allows me to clamp almost any size of
wood to the rail — and it will move with the crank handle. I like that idea much
better than my hands under the plate.
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Do you see that nice square
notch cut out in the plastic? I did it using the 10mm straight bit. The manual says to
make this cut — what it didn't say is how. I made several attempts and each
time ruined the plastic.
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Finally, I decided to sandwich the plastic piece between two scraps of wood. You can see
that I was able to make a very smooth cut in the wood AND the plastic.
I did this with the 10mm bit on one end and the 1/2" straight cutter
notching the other end. This little piece of plastic is key to making mortise and tenon
joints with these two bits.
When I get some more little plastic pieces, I will cut some more of these
guides for other bit combinations.
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I went to the
scrap pile to find some wood that can be my first mortise and tenon joint. I arbitrarily
marked the tenon somewhat set in on the rail. I did this mainly to see if I could place
the mortise anywhere, or if it had to be measured from an end.
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The WoodRat system makes
the tenons first — a departure from how I have always made them. The first step is to
run a pencil line on both sides of the tenon board which I am holding on the router plate.
These marks are actually on the plastic right angle guide strips. This strip doesn't move
when I move the router. This gives me the thickness of the tenon stock — so far I
like this...no measuring.
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I lay the
plastic with the 10mm notch and visually center it over the marks for the tenon board. It
doesn't have to be centered exactly since all the cutting will be relative. When it is
where I want the tenon, I mark the inside edges of the notch.
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I have
now installed the 1/2" straight bit and have brought it (not running, of course) so
that it just touches the wood of the tenon, which I mounted vertically in the cutter cam
clamp.
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Now, I hold the plastic guide — this time with the end that matches the bit I have
installed — the 1/2" straight bit. I have added the red line on the photo since
the plastic edges are hard to see.
Since the bit is just touching the wood (photo and step above), I want to do
the same with the plastic — and just have the edge of the notch touch the line that
represents the side of the wood. I tape the plastic piece in place on the router base.
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With the router bit raised,
I slide the whole base forward until the plastic 1/2" notch matches up with the tenon
line that I drew using the 10mm notch. I lock the base at this point. I am ready to route
the back portion of the tenon.
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I simply turn the crank to
move the tenon stock across the 1/2" cutter that I have plunged to get a 1" cut.
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With the router past the
tenon, I can unlock the base and slide it towards me slowly until the plastic notch lines
up with the nearer tenon line. With this lined up, my router bit should be on this side of
the tenon and ready to cut this side. I lock the base and crank the router in the
other direction, making the cut.
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I have my perfect tenon. It
looks good, but I don't know how perfect it is until I make the 10mm mortise. That comes
next. [Note: I did cut the shoulders at both end. I did this by eye. I expect that I will
be able to compensate for them when making the matching mortise.]
My main concern doing the tenon first is whether it will fit into a fixed
(10mm) mortise. I have always done the fixed part first (mortise) and then cut the tenon
to fit.
By the way, the 1" depth is a relatively shallow mortise. The WoodRat
system allows for deeper mortises — actually as deep as longer bits will allow.
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