So...yeah. I've been falling behind recently on my blog. My reasons vary, but it's unrelated to the weather this time. Instead of dwelling on excuses, I'm just going to jump into this two part blog. I say two parts because...I feel like dividing it up.
I decided to do this subjective split because there really isn't anything new in part 1...it's just pretty standard mortise and tenon action, while Part 2 is more complicated, higher level stuff...like journeyman blog reader's level. So here we go...two weeks late.
Part 1: You've seen this all before, but maybe it will be still be interesting!
With back legs shaped, I'm ready to start mortising. The first run of mortises are for the bottom stretchers that sit on the floor and for the y-branch piece, which serves two purposes for the desk: it supports the back of the table top, while also providing storage space for the user. Instead of sharing pictures of the completed mortises, I'll instead show the jig I used to: 1. counter the splay of the back leg, so the foot mortise goes in parallel with the floor (so the stretcher is parallel with the floor) and 2. provide a straight and solid reference for my wishbone joint.
1.
2.
Followed by 3. with bottom stretchers tenoned and fit. Not a great picture.
Yeah...even with this poorly lighted shot, it's still pretty noticeable that the front leg is a whole lot taller than the back leg at the moment. It is purposeful, I haven't decided on the finished height of the desk yet, so at this stage, there's no reason to shorten it.
Part 2: You've never in your life seen anything like this.
So far, the back legs are only an l...now it's time to make it a y. To advance to the second to last letter, I first have to cut a flat in the wishbone just underneath the mortise...I don't do it for the looks (though it should look nice) but because I have to. If I kept the corner, the grain would be unsupported at the tip and would likely break off. The flat spares me the structural weakness, but gives me a more complicated joint. The receiving end is drawn in pencil at first.
To start, I have to make the 45 degree angle cut that will match with the above flat. Sounds kind of easy as a chop saw can be set up for that in a second. Unfortunately though, I can't cut through the piece as a chop saw would. Instead, the best solution was to build a table sled that accepts the blade at that extreme angle. After a few hours of making, I had a rather haphazard conglomeration of scrap pieces that worked pretty well.
With the blade at the right height, I passed each y-piece over the angled saw getting a clean cut that should match the back leg. After that, I used the regular table saw sled to nibble away the end until the vertical cut intersected the back corner of the angled cut.
With that done, all that remained was boring a mortise on the straight (boring!) and doing a test fit. With a little adjustment of the flat using a handplane, I got the two pieces to fit together pretty well. Admittedly, I took a picture of the better joint from the best side...trick of the trade.
Up next is the top stretcher (mocked up in this shot with a knotty piece of alder), which...to be honest, is already done...I really need to pick up on my posting.