Thru tenons on sloping leg.

[tim walker]

Ok, I need to build a stretcher to connect two legs. The legs are solid wood and about 8" wide. They will slope at approx 10 degrees. These will be thru tenons. How to best cut these? I know if the original length if stretcher should be cut a little long as the thru tenon can be cut off to match the leg. Getting the shoulder distance is the most important thing. I am thinking on a table saw using the miter fence set at 10 deg but was thinking there may also be an easier way. Open to suggestions.Drawing1.jpg

[lowell holmes]

I would consider loose tenons. That will allow you to make the mating faces fit. You could route mortises in the horizontal member before cutting the face.

[Prashun Patel]

I would do it at the table saw like you suggest. However, for if you are planning to make cheeks on the top and bottom edges, you will need to use the miter fence @ 90 degrees and bevel the blade 10 degrees. For these operations, instead of relying on accurately setting the dial for your gauge and the tilt of the saw, I would make a "10" degree setup block out of some 8/4 or thicker stock, and use it to set both your miter gauge and the bevel of the saw.

The trick will be cutting the mortise in the leg. How are you planning to do that?

I would cut the legs and stretcher before the top. That way, if you're a smidge off in your stretcher length it won't matter.

If you're goal is ease, then I second the loose tenon suggestion. It will make gauging the exact length of the stretcher easier. You can always provide 'faux' thru tenons on the other side by routing an inlay and filling it with an endgrain block.

[Sam Murdoch]

Establish the shoulders by working off a centerline. Otherwise let the tenons run long as you suggest. Starting with a very flat stretcher- make the respective shoulderr cuts with the table saw or if you have a depth stop feature on your miter saw use that. The latter would be my preference because I can see the cut line and the saw does the sliding rather than the wood. This does require that you space the cut piece away from the saw fence 2" or more with a backer piece in order to get a full consistent depth cross cut. Once the shoulder cut is established with the sliding miter saw you could straighten the saw to 90° and just move the piece repeatedly for such a short tenon until the miter saw clears all the waste. Finish that up with hand tools or sanding blocks.

No matter which machine you use the interface of the shoulder cut with the cheek of the tenon will be at an angle and will require that you finish the joint with hand tools of some sort. These days, now that I have a nice bandsaw that will make such a cut I would remove the waste with the bandsaw. But if all you have is the table saw you could also set up to remove the cheeks of the tenon upright with a tenoning jig on the table saw. Nothing wrong with using a router or router plane, or other hand tools to get the fit perfect.

[Paul Symchych]

You have an arc in the seat. Why not cut your stretcher in a matching arc -then chop the mortise plumb and the tenon shoulders square as if there was no slope to the legs?

[tim walker]

I would do it at the table saw like you suggest. However, for if you are planning to make cheeks on the top and bottom edges, you will need to use the miter fence @ 90 degrees and bevel the blade 10 degrees. For these operations, instead of relying on accurately setting the dial for your gauge and the tilt of the saw, I would make a "10" degree setup block out of some 8/4 or thicker stock, and use it to set both your miter gauge and the bevel of the saw.

The trick will be cutting the mortise in the leg. How are you planning to do that?

I would cut the legs and stretcher before the top. That way, if you're a smidge off in your stretcher length it won't matter.

If you're goal is ease, then I second the loose tenon suggestion. It will make gauging the exact length of the stretcher easier. You can always provide 'faux' thru tenons on the other side by routing an inlay and filling it with an endgrain block.

Prashan, to cut the mortise in the leg my idea is to make a wedge at 10 deg to "square" the leg and make it lay perfectly horizontal. Would that not work. I have a mortiser machine.

[Bob Lang]

Dry fit the legs to the top and set the assembly on a level surface. Measure up to where the bottoms of the stretchers ought to be. I would use a framing square with one leg on the workbench to ensure a good measurement. Clamp the stretcher-to-be (milled to thickness and width and a few inches longer than you need) to the marks on the legs. Mark the face of the stretcher with a pencil, just run the point along the back of the legs.

That locates the shoulder lines. Mark the lines all the way around. You can cut them on the table saw, but that will require a different setup for each of the four shoulders. I think it is easier and faster to just cut the shoulders by hand. The tenon should be a bit longer than needed so you can trim it flush after assembly, but not more than 1/4" or so. I would mark an offset line while it was clamped to the dry assembly.

Bob Lang

[Jim Matthews]

Dry fit the legs to the top and set the assembly on a level surface. Mark the face of the stretcher with a pencil, just run the point along the back of the legs.


Bob Lang

I love this site. Nice when the Big Dogs come to play in the Creek.
It's so much easier to use the pieces themselves to mark the next to fit the assembly.

I suppose you could draft it all out on Sketchup and print templates - but this way is easier, intuitive and less likely to induce alignment errors.

When I layout stuff like this, I use a Crafting cutting board with a layout grid to help keep things aligned.

[Stephen Cherry]

Eugene Landon wrote an excellent article for fine woodworking, many moons ago:

http://www.finewoodworking.com/woodw...ale-chair.aspx

In this article he went through the whole process of cutting similar joints by hand. It's worth taking the free trial membership to read the article.

My opinion is that this is basically a one angle chair. you would need one bevel gauge for the top of the legs and the stretcher. I would look first at a handsaw, but the table saw would be OK also. You would use the bevel gauge to set the angle of the table saw miter gauge.

For the tenon, I would use the wedge on the hollow chisel mortiser, and since it is a through cut, I would start from the outside and drill through to the inside of the leg.

[Mike Wilkins]

For a similar application, I built a sloping platform to hold the legs while drilling the through holes on the drill press. The platform slope was equal to the angle of the mortise. You can use the Bessey or DeStaCo type clamps to hold the leg while the drill bit is doing its thing. Important for safety and accuracy.

[tim walker]

Maybe I should know but I don't, but who is Bob Lang>? I assume he is he big Dog you refer to.

[Jim Matthews]

I'm presuming he's the same Bob Lang that's been at it, both making and writing about working with wood for awhile.
http://www.popularwoodworking.com/wo...dworking-store

(Might be another Bob Lang, here - I suppose.)