The objective today is legs. Squaring the ends, cutting to final length, locating and cutting all of the mortises. This includes lots of work with the plans to find dimensions and locate the correct location on the correct face of the milled leg.
The day started with the plans. I got out the large version. These have the rails and legs on one page. It requires very careful study and reconciling the orientations. Benchcrafted did a very good job. There are just a lot of dimensions to absorb.
Next came checking the square of the leg ends. My chop saw is NOT precise. I know that so I am careful to check all cuts. The legs were not square. So I use the table saw and get the leg ends square.
Then comes the critical moment when I have to cut the legs to length. The desired workbench height is 36″. The top is 3 3/4. The legs have a 1″ tenon. I checked this calcuation about 10 times. Leg length is 33 1/4″. Done.
Next was a deep dive into the plans to get the tenon orientation set. These tenons are set back from the edge of the top. You can see this in the pictures.
From a lecture by Steve Quehl, a local excellent furniture builder, I used his technique for cutting shoulder cuts on the table saw. This turned out to be the most exact I have ever gotten the 4 shoulder cuts. Nearly all of the cuts were exact with no “bump” on the should surface.
I used the bandsaw to finish the tenon cuts. This also worked extemely well. This is the best set of tenons I have ever cut.
I am really concentrating on patience and precision for each step of this project. Two tools that I use a lot for precision are my calipers and Woodpeck’s setup blocks ( I have the 13 piece set in inches. )
I did not get any tenons completed, only got started with the layout. I decided to stop and start again on day 15 fresh and ready to complete all of the mortise layout and cut the mortises.
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Please enjoy the full set of day 13 pictures with detailed comments:
