Morris chairs part 2, arm mortises…

In my design the legs are attached to the arms with wedged through-tenons which will be trimmed flush with the arm’s surface. First I cut the tenons on the top of the legs and then proceded to cut the mortises in the arms. The pic below is of the first mortise, started with a forstner bit and trimmed square with a sharp chisel. The beer is for safety.

IMG_0588_opti.jpg

This pic is of the through tenon (before being drilled and slotted for wedges) through the squared mortise. At this point the mortise is just a square hole, cut 90° to the to the top of the arm.

IMG_0589_opti.jpg

To allow a wedged tenon to spread open (and give the joint it’s strength) the mortise now needs to be bevelled. I used a block of hickory cut at 3° as a guide and pared away the top of the mortise on the two sides I will be spreading the tenon towards.

IMG_0592_opti.jpg

Now to finish the tenons…