A White Oak Desk

[SwampDonkey]

Don't forget the cash $$ ;D

[isawlogs]

 You'll have to send me some pics Bill.... 

[SwampDonkey]

Well I'm moving to the other house and I'll be setting up high speed internet to post things on a site of some kind. I'll have some pics later. This is later on this spring. Too cold now to do anything. :D

I even have an old canvas back canoe, cedar ribs, 22 footer. I have to do something with. Has a square stern and pulley on the far end for anchor, it's a river canoe for salmon fishing. It's not pristine condition, because it's been used for what it was made for. It's NB made by the Millers in Nictau.

[SawyerBrown]

... screaming devil tools ...

Great description!!   :D :D :D

[Magicman]

They have ruined many woodworkers as well as their projects.   :-\

[Dodgy Loner]

Well, I ended up breaking my word and using the screaming devil after all. After thinking about how to best accomplish the mortising, it occurred to me that I could use the same bit that I was planning to use for the grooves to get my through-mortises started - a 1/4" wing cutter. It's at the router table, so there is much more bearing surface than when using the router by hand. PLUS, unlike a straight bit, where the cutting action is occurring perpendicular to the direction of the cut, this wing bit cuts parallel to the direction of the cut. What this means is that the chips are cleared far better than with a straight bit and there is no tendency for the bit to wander in the cut.

First, I carefully marked out the grooves and mortises on all of my legs. Through-mortises require much care to lay out properly. I double-checked my diagrams and even discovered some overlooked errors. Hopefully they are all right now, but I won't find out for sure until I start to tenon my rails.

The work started at the router table:
 

Then the through-mortises were bored all the way through at the drill press and cleaned up at the bench with a few chisels.


They turned out nice, now I just have to cross my fingers that they're all in the right location! :D

[mesquite buckeye]

Let's hope they are all perfect. If not, you can borrow my mortise mover. ;D

Looking super nice so far. ;D

[Dodgy Loner]

Do you keep that next to the board stretcher? :D

[mesquite buckeye]

Si. ;D

[SwampDonkey]

 :D Looks nice from 1200 miles away. 

[Andy White]

Dodgy Loner,
Those mortices are looking very well made. Using the tools you have on your bench, you can't hardly miss one. I have been thinking of getting one of those cutter wheel marking gauges for a while. Do you like it better than a pin type gauge? The desk is looking great. Keep up the good work and pictures.    Andy

[Dodgy Loner]

Andy, the wheel-type gauges are great. I have two pin gauges, and they both see use when I need to save more than one setting, but the wheel gauge is always the first one to get set. I find it easier to scribe a line accurately with it. That said, the one I have (Veritas with micro-adjust from Lee Valley) has some shortcomings. Namely, if you are not careful, the setting can slip which can cause nightmares. If I were to get a new one, it would be the Tite-Mark gauge from Glen-Drake. At $89, it ain't cheap, but the marking gauge is such a critical and often-used tool for handwork that I think it would be worth it. I have never heard anything but rave reviews from people who have the Tite-Mark

Last night I was interrupted from my desk-building to tend to my honey-do list: Stickering 460 square feet of red oak flooring in a corner of the bedroom. I will have to start laying in about 2 weeks. My next project after I'm done with the desk and the floor will probably not involve any oak :D

[SwampDonkey]

I  have the Sheffield Deluxe Rosewood marking gauge.  ;D

[Dave Shepard]

I have the Titemark and it is a very well thought out tool. I have been eyeing the marking gauge from Veritas that has the two cutter shafts so you can lay out both sides of the mortise at the same time. It might come in handy for some of my model making adventures.

[Dodgy Loner]

A friend of mine took pity on my task of through-mortising 8 white oak legs and sent me a package that arrived on Monday: two 1/4" mortising chisels, a Lie-Nielsen socket mortiser and a Ray Iles "pigsticker". He just asked me to return them when they were done. Cold weather kept me out of the shop for the first part of the week, but I was able to make a little progress last night.



I had already done half the mortises with a Forstner bit and a paring chisel to clean up the waste. So I had four more to go, and the mortise chisels were just the ticket. I was able to chop the mortises by hand in about the same amount of time that it took to do the paring work after boring out most of the waste with a Forstner. So it ended up being quite a bit more efficient to do the chopping by hand. Good chisels made the task easy, and I was hard-pressed to choose a favorite. I liked the way the Ray Iles chisel felt in the hand - the large handle was easy to grasp, and the elliptical shape made it simple to orient the blade properly - but I must say that the Lie-Nielsen seemed to do a better job of cleaning out the waste, probably because the sides are ground to sharp corners. They seem to scrape the sides clean as you lever out the waste, making a neat mortise. They are both very good chisels, and I highly recommend either.

Here is a mortise done with the Forstner + paring:


And here is one done with just the mortise chisel:


They are both very clean. Once the mortises were done, it was time to move on to the tenons. About 6 or 7 years ago, I bought the Grizzly Tenoning Jig for cutting tenons on a table saw. And for 6 or 7 years, it sat unused. With this many tenons, though, it seemed like the way to go. So I pulled it out and found it very easy to set up and use. I cut the tenons for one of the rails, aiming for an off-the-saw fit. I trimmed the tenons to width with a backsaw, and gave it a test fit:



It slid home sweetly, but was just a tad too loose. But the shoulders were nice and tight:



I adjusted the jig a hair for the second rail, and got a piston-fit tenon:



And that is where my evening ended. Only about 70 more tenons to go! . Fortunately, most of them are not through-tenons :D

[SwampDonkey]

Even if they aren't through tenons, they will take about as long by the time they are cleaned out and scraped. ;D

Nice job on the through tenons. Good luck with the rest. ;D

[Dodgy Loner]

No doubt, blind tenons take about as much work as through-tenons, since they are so hard to clean out. However, blind tenons are a bit more forgiving of errors, so long as the joint is tight. They don't have to be pretty, just strong

[SwampDonkey]

Yes, that'll relieve a little stress. ;D

[jdtuttle]

Nice job on the through mortise. That's why I love my designated mortising machine. It's actually my brothers but I've had it 3 years now. The tenoning jig is the safest & fastest way to make tenons. Can't wait to see the finished desk.

[Andy White]

Dodgy Loner,
Outstanding job on the mortices! Seems counterproductive to whack a fine piece of wood with a razor sharp tool, but that's how it's done. The Lie Nielson chisels are about the finest I've whacked. That Ray Iles looks to be a fine one also. Don't know if I could convince Nancy that I really need a set of them ! Do you find that when you clamp a rail in your tennon jig , it tends to pull it slightly out of line with the blade? I had that trouble with my Delta, until I made my homemade one. When I cut one by hand, I can feel the cut, and know it is aligned with the blade. Before the jigs, I used to cut with a back saw. No fun at all! Keep up the fine work, and the pictures! I love seeing other peoples projects. Makes me ready for another one myself.      Andy

[SwampDonkey]

I've used Sorbeys to whack out mortises, they are fine chisels to. You can use some leverage on that sucker and know it won't break off like Chinese junk. I also have a Sorbeys mortise bottom scraper. Any good mortise chisel will do the job.  ;D

[WDH]

It is a satisfying feeling with a tenon that you have cut fits perfectly in a mortise.  I have used my Delta tenoning jig a bunch.  Nice looking work.

[Dodgy Loner]

Do you find that when you clamp a rail in your tennon jig , it tends to pull it slightly out of line with the blade? I had that trouble with my Delta, until I made my homemade one. When I cut one by hand, I can feel the cut, and know it is aligned with the blade. Before the jigs, I used to cut with a back saw. No fun at all!

Andy, I found the factory clamp that came with the tenoning jig to be overly heavy, bulky and, basically, stupid. So I took it off and just clamped the boards in place with a couple of spring clamps. Worked great. I have sawed quite a few tenons with a backsaw, and I wouldn't say that it was no fun at all (I love hand tools!) but they definitely didn't turn out as nice as these. I will probably not let this jig collect so much dust in the future.

I've used Sorbeys to whack out mortises, they are fine chisels to. You can use some leverage on that sucker and know it won't break off like Chinese junk. I also have a Sorbeys mortise bottom scraper. Any good mortise chisel will do the job.  ;D

That's good to know. I have had a bad experience with Sorby's and don't expect that I will every buy their tools again. The first chisels I ever bought were 1/4" and 1/2" Sorby paring chisels, and the steel was so soft, the edge would crumble immediately upon use. It was really frustrating, but I thought that I was the problem, I didn't have enough experience to know that the chisels were bad. My next chisels were the Irwin blue chips that cost 1/4 as much, and they had steel that was 4 times as good. Other people have reported great things about Sorbys, but one bad experience for me has caused me to stay away. I know other people who have had the same problem as me, so it seems that their quality is at best, inconsistent.

It is a satisfying feeling with a tenon that you have cut fits perfectly in a mortise.  I have used my Delta tenoning jig a bunch.  Nice looking work.

Yes, it really is a great feeling. I stayed up later than I should have, just so I could get a couple of tenons made before calling it quits. It was worth it!

[SwampDonkey]

My clean out chisel is actually a Henry Taylor I guess. I have not experienced the Sorbey chisel ever chipping out. I have just the 1/2" chisel. They are also registered chisels for serious work.

[Dodgy Loner]

The Sorby's that I had never chipped - the edges just literally would fold over like tin foil. It didn't matter if I honed at 25° (which is what I prefer for paring chisels) or 30° (my standard honing angle for bench chisels). The edges simply failed the moment you put metal to wood. Like I said, I know others who love their Sorby's, so I don't guess it's a widespread problem, but it certainly soured my opinion.