Seeking advice on cleaning up Mortises in End Grain

[Andy Sowers]

I'm building a maple bed for my 5yr old daughter. The project is nearing completion, but I ran into a snag this weekend when mortising the 76" side rails to accept the hardware I had purchased (http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2003269/3200/Bed-Rail-Fastener.aspx).

The first thing I realized is that I didn't size the rails thick enough. These fastners are 5/8" wide and my rails were 3/4" thick leaving only a scant 1/16" sliver of wood to either side of the mortise. Ok... so I'll beef up the rails to 1" thick so I'll have more meat remaining. That's the easy part.

I'm routing out the bulk of the mortise the ends using a Mortise Pal, and that part goes along swimmingly well... but I strugged with squaring up the rounded ends with a chisel. Despite having recently sharpened my chisels, the wood simply wanted to split along the end grain whenever given a chance. Is there a trick that I'm missing, or do I just need to nibble off smaller amounts (not that I was attempting to take off much in the first place).

Thanks in advance.

Andy

[Maurice Ungaro]

I don't know how sharp you get your chisels, but when you are squaring those corners (particularly with so little meat left on the sides), you use light paring cuts to sneak up on the final fit. It's easier to take little bits off, and much harder to put them back on.

[Andy Sowers]

I used the 3M Micro abrasive PSA lapping film adhered to plate glass to sharpen my chisels just before starting this project. They cut super except in the end grain, where the going is a lot tougher. For the bits I did slice off, they often remained attached. requiring an attack from the side to shear them off, even then it doesn't look very pretty. I'm definitely not well skilled at neander-type work...

Andy

[Don Wacker]

Make your shear / relief cut first. A swept corner chisel works well if you dont have one then an exacto knife will work if the mortises are not very deep.

Don

[Frank Drew]

Andy,

IMO, it's much quicker and easier to round the corners of tenons than to chop square the round ends of mortises.

(Even if you beef up the ends of the rails to accept the hardware, 3/4" seems rather skimpy for a bed rail.)

[Peter Quinn]

Its not easy to chop clean mortises into end grain, regardless of your chisels or your skill. The chisels want to follow the grain, and the grain my not conform to your desired outline particularly well. That bed rail hardware might be one of the few circumstances where you would ever be required to mortise end grain with square shoulders. You might try making a quick template by gluing 1/2" mdf around that hardware to conform to its dimensions, using a small bottom bearing mortising bit or pattern bit to make the mortises, then chopping out the square corners with the jig still in place. You could make the template so it clamps on or simply screw it into the end grain if thats easier, it is all blind anyway in use. A template will help keep the chisel from diving into the wood as it follows the grain, Take very light cuts at the start to establish your visual "shoulder", the rest you could hack out and nobody will ever see it. Fact is its all blind in use so it doesn't really have to be perfect IMO.

Regardless of hardware, 3/4" is IMO too thin for any bed rail beyond a toddlers crib. 7/8" with a good cleat to hold the bed up to the inside is pretty much a minimum, 1" is better, 5/4 is not unthinkable. Thats a pretty long span for 4/4 material.

[Prashun Patel]

Dumb question: Why not route mortises in both mating pieces and use a loose tenon with rounded corners? Plenty strong, and 'swimmingly' easier than traditional M&T.

[Andy Sowers]

Thanks all... I'm definitely moving up to 5/4 stock. I'll make it as thick as i can after milling it flat.

Seems that I just need to take it slow(er) while chiseling out the mortises for the metal bed rail hardware.

Thanks again!
Andy

[Neil Brooks]

An odd suggestion, Andy ....

My lesson learned is ... if I have to do mortises ... even NEAR the end of ... say ... a table leg ... I should leave the leg a few inches longer than finished length, then cut the mortise, and THEN cut the leg to length. Eliminates splitting the leg, when cutting the mortise NEAR the end.

I'm wondering whether you could -- similarly -- leave the leg longer, cut the mortise deeper, and THEN chisel out the corners.

I'm not SURE this would be better (anybody ??), but ... it's a thought. Sometimes, it's easier to clean up MORE wood than LESS.

Good luck !

[Andy Sowers]

Thats a really good suggestion Neil!! I might just do that!!

Andy