Chopping Some Mortices This Week

[Tom Bender]

Before laying out I sand to 300. This is especially helpful on oak which wants to steer the line. Layout is with a ballpoint pen. This is a new tool for me. It makes a bold line. I made a paper template, from a manila folder, one of my favorite materials.

I've drilled 5 holes from one side and 3 from the other. Three leaves enough bridging to prevent splitting out inside the double mortice. After the first is chopped I drill the other two holes.

The red clamp (and caution) prevent blowing out the end.


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[John TenEyck]

My hat's off to you Tom, but I found out that power tools make that a much easier job. Keep the Ibuprofen nearby.

John

[Thomas McCurnin]

I find using a sharp layout knife and a knife wall prevents wandering mortise lines/walls. I use a ball point pen to accentuate the knife wall, just so I can see what I am doing, but its the knife wall that rules.

[Derek Cohen]

Here is a morticing guide I designed and built. From my website:



Morticing Guide





Paul Sellers created a set of saw guides with different offsets for the beauty shoulder. My version is similar, with a few exceptions:

(1) The fixture adjusts for any offset (it is not a fixed distance from the edge), replacing several fixtures with one.
(2) It is held in a face vise, but the chopping takes place on the bench (in my case, over a leg). Paul chops his in the vise (not so good for the life of the vise?).
(3) The fence also acts as a hold down, preventing the work piece to be lifted by the mortice chisel.

The front ..

https://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/MorticingGuide_html_m1cd6b9df.jpg

The rear …
https://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/MorticingGuide_html_211eacaa.jpg

The fixture is simply a long fence with a fine sandpaper as non-slip, against which the stretcher is clamped, and a short sliding fence, which will act as the depth control.

The marked mortice ..

https://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/MorticingGuide_html_m64c5ec79.jpg

Place the stretcher on the bench and drop the fixture on top of it. Clamp the fixture in the bench …

https://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/MorticingGuide_html_m1594e988.jpg

Now adjust the sliding fence alongside the registration side of the mortice …

https://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/MorticingGuide_html_37f5fddb.jpg

Clamp the stretcher against the long fence and begin chopping with the chisel against the sliding fence ..

https://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/MorticingGuide_html_m776897dc.jpg

The aim here is to achieve perpendicular sidewalls.

https://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/MorticingGuide_html_ma9e4d1a.jpg





Another way to use this fixture is to drill out the waste, and use the sliding fence to pare the remaining waste ..

https://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/MorticingGuide_html_m8a33be7.jpg



Regards from Perth

Derek







September 2022

[Tom Bender]

Derek that's a nice fixture. The flat topped cap screws look amazing, and are those washers stainless? Nice looking tools set a high standard for the work.

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks Tom. The washers are stainless but the cap screws are simply anodised steel.

Regards from Perth

Derek