Mortise in a turned spindle

[Joseph O'Leary]

I am getting ready to make bunk beds for my son. LOML's design has turned spindles for the corner posts. The head and foot boards will attach to the posts with a mortise and tennon joint. To complicate things a little the mortise will be off center of the spindle by the width of the head board. My question is should I cut the mortise while the stock is square,prior to turning, or cut the mortise after it is turned? I will cut the mortise with the mortising attachment on my drill press.
I think it will be easier to cut them while square, but I am afraid of catches while turning. I plan to try it on a test piece, just wondered if it is a sound practice or not. Thanks for any advice you my have.

[Andy Hoyt]

Joseph - I'd cut the mortises while square as it makes that process a whole easier.

When it's time to turn the stock you could try filling the mortise with a waste block held in by friction. Couple of stabs with a chisel afterwards and it should pop out.

Then again, you could probably ignore the mortise altogether while turning since it won't likely be more than 1/2" +/- wide. Crank the lathe up to speed and your gouge or skew will just ride right over it.

Think you'll be fine either way.

[Dave Richards]

It makes sense to cut the mortises before turning the spindle. You can assure proper alignment much more easily. As to avoiding catches, you could just be very careful in the area of the mortise or you could cut a plug to seat temporarily. You could "glue" the plug in place with a little bit of varnish although you'd want to clean that out before gluing. The varnish will hold the plug but will allow it to be removed later.

Don't seat the plug in the bottom of the mortise. You'll be able to give the plug a whack to break it loose and then put a wood screw in it to give you a grip for pulling it out.