Nov 292012
 
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The leg design has what I call the “main section” which is curved crotch walnut and then a wider header and footer to help support the width of the table. These two pieces are attached with pegged mortise and tenons.

I lay out the mortise location using a pencil and a handy Woodpeckers square. I always use X’s to clearly mark the waste.

Layout mortise location with a pencil and mark the waste.

Lay out mortise location with a pencil and mark the waste.

A mortise machine makes quick work. I use the pencil as reference, but it doesn’t have to be perfect. I’ll run all the pieces at the same time so they are consistent.

A mortise machine makes quick work of mortises

A mortise machine makes quick work of mortises

I run the first wall of mortises on all the pieces.

First wall of the wide mortise.

First wall of the wide mortise.

Unfortunately these mortises are wider than my widest mortise chisel, so I have to run another set for the other outer wall. This leaves a small piece in the middle which simply pops out.

The second wall of the mortise

The second wall of the mortise

Next up: The matching tenons.

  One Response to “Morton’s Shop: Leg Header + Footer”

  1. […] Shop: Matching Tenons  Workshops & Instructors Dec 062012   Now that the mortises are complete, time to make matching tenons.  There are many ways to create tenons and I chose a […]

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