White Oak Trestle Desk Journal

[Prashun Patel]

Looks wonderful. You're a brave man for Shawshanking the curve as you did.

I find it easier to cut my joinery before tapers and curves; it's just easier for me to have all sides available for referencing marking.

I can't wait to see it.

[Mike Cherry]

Looks wonderful. You're a brave man for Shawshanking the curve as you did.

I find it easier to cut my joinery before tapers and curves; it's just easier for me to have all sides available for referencing marking.

I can't wait to see it.

My first time dealing with curves and tapers in this manner. Hopefully it doesnt come around to bite me!

[Jerry Olexa]

Great thread! Enjoying it...thanks for posting...

[Mike Cherry]

Great thread! Enjoying it...thanks for posting...

Thanks Jerry.

*minor update*

Laid out the joinery for the legs. The three eights inch mortise chisel from TFWW has brittle steel that continues to chip no matter how far back I sharpen. TFWW is going to replace it, but that could be a while.

Meanwhile I have to figure out how to chop these mortises. I could drill and pare but I'm not sure how well that will work as I have never done that method before. My 3/8" LN bench chisel is too wimpy to tackle this white oak. I drove it in and gently started to lever out waste and it didn't feel good. I cancelled that operation.

So for now, I'm in a holding pattern. Think I'm gonna focus on cleaning the shop and prepping the top. Should be picking up the 6/4 QSWO this weekend.

[Prashun Patel]

Drill and pare. Necessity is the mother of learning a new skill.

[Prashun Patel]

Ue a 1/4" bit and overlap them as much as possible.

[John Roth]

Watching with interest. Beautiful photography. I particularly enjoy your thought process on the specific methods of work. Hope to pick up some tips.

[Mike Cherry]

Drill and pare. Necessity is the mother of learning a new skill.

Ue a 1/4" bit and overlap them as much as possible.

Wise words Prashun. I'm gonna give it a go. I assume a 1/4 bit so as to sneak up on the final width yes?

Watching with interest. Beautiful photography. I particularly enjoy your thought process on the specific methods of work. Hope to pick up some tips.

Thanks John. Truth be told, I'm learning some new things as well. Best thing I've done so far is post this log cause it keeps me engaged in the project and I am encouraged to find and try new methods for doing things. There's an example of that right here with Prashun encouraging me to give the mortises a shot with a method I've never used. Thanks for looking. I got the day off work today, hopefully I can get something done.

[Prashun Patel]

Yes, sneak up on the final width. There are a million methods of work here, but for my part, I like to outline the mortise with a bench chisel, and then pare shoulders before drilling. I always find it harder to make that clean shoulder on a wasted hole. I think it's psychological. "planing" the bottom is easier for me with a mortise chisel, so you may leave that for the end, but you can also get it with a skinny (1/8") chisel. Truth be told, I am not persnickety about the bottoms of my mortises, anyway and tend to make them a hair deeper than necessary so I can avoid all that corner clean up work. But looking at your work, I bet you'll demand a higher standard.

Also, you may find it easier to pare the walls with a skinnier chisel; removing less waste can help in keeping that chisel perfectly vertical (a thicker mortise chisel excels at this for me). So, pare carefully. You can take your final paring cuts with a wider chisel to get the wall in a single plane.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Meanwhile I have to figure out how to chop these mortises. I could drill and pare but I'm not sure how well that will work as I have never done that method before. My 3/8" LN bench chisel is too wimpy to tackle this white oak. I drove it in and gently started to lever out waste and it didn't feel good. I cancelled that operation.

I agree your best bet with what you have is to drill and pare. I have had the bet luck making the mortises first, and then fitting the tenons to them. I just picked up a pair of old Sorby mortise chisels, which I like very much.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Jerry.

*minor update*

Laid out the joinery for the legs. The three eights inch mortise chisel from TFWW has brittle steel that continues to chip no matter how far back I sharpen. TFWW is going to replace it, but that could be a while.

Meanwhile I have to figure out how to chop these mortises. I could drill and pare but I'm not sure how well that will work as I have never done that method before. My 3/8" LN bench chisel is too wimpy to tackle this white oak. I drove it in and gently started to lever out waste and it didn't feel good. I cancelled that operation.

So for now, I'm in a holding pattern. Think I'm gonna focus on cleaning the shop and prepping the top. Should be picking up the 6/4 QSWO this weekend.

White oak

Don't lever heavily, IMO. Chop the waste, then back the chisel out and just use it clear the waste. Don't lever out aggressively, there is little advantage and many disadvantages.

A bench chisel is going to have a rough time in white oak, I would revisit that 3/8 mortise chisel and just put a slight micro bevel on it.

[Mike Cherry]

White oak

Don't lever heavily, IMO. Chop the waste, then back the chisel out and just use it clear the waste. Don't lever out aggressively, there is little advantage and many disadvantages.

A bench chisel is going to have a rough time in white oak, I would revisit that 3/8 mortise chisel and just put a slight micro bevel on it.

Yea this white oak is fighting me on these mortises. I'm not surprised really. Using the drill and pare method, I've got half the mortises done. Should have some visual updates coming soon. Cheers!

[Brian Holcombe]

I've used both methods myself, I really prefer not to drill and pare if I can avoid it. It's an effective method, but I hate wasting out the peaks. I rather drill one hole and just knock the waste into that hole as I chop. I use this on really short/deep tenons typically.

[Zuye Zheng]

Looking great, got to try out the screwdriver trick.

[Christopher Charles]

Looks good! Thanks for posting and best of luck on your search for lumber for the desktop.

Best,
C