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catsittingstillI am happy to say I laid out and cut the mortises and tenons for the seat today. And i fitted them and glued them up. It looks like a rectangle now (and I can't mess with it until the epoxy is cured) but it is a seat and not some random lengths of wood.
Laying everything out is quite time consuming, but it's a step I can't shortchange. All the outlines I saw and drill must first be scratched onto the wood (a pencil line is too thick for this), along with drawing the "cabinetmaker's triangle" that lets me find again the proper orientation of every piece if I set one down the wrong way around.
You see, my tenons are each fitted individually to their mortises. So if I try to put in the wrong tenon (even if it's the exact same part on the other side of the seat, even if it's the exact same part but I'm trying the top tenon instead of the bottom tenon, even if it's the exact same tenon but I have it twisted 180 degrees)--it won't go. I think this may be a common problem--hence the cabinetmaker's triangle.
This takes a long time to explain and is really obvious in person. I couldn't find any good pictures on the web so I took some.
Here's the easy way to draw it on the pieces:
Here's how it looks with the pieces arranged properly:
And if one piece is flipped facedown
Or top-for-bottom
You can easily tell, and put it right again before you do something catastrophic like fit (or glue!) a tenon in the wrong mortise.
Now, obviously normally you don't mark the cabinetmaker's triangle with a MONSTER SHARPIE; you use a discreet light pencil or something you can easily sand off. But these are just scraps and I wanted good contrast so it was easy to see what I meant.
And now, what we've all been waiting for, the excellent and vivacious---Moxie!
Preparing for the day she meets her anxious and adoring public by donning gunwales and decks. Still needs thwarts and seat and varnish. But she's getting there.
Laying everything out is quite time consuming, but it's a step I can't shortchange. All the outlines I saw and drill must first be scratched onto the wood (a pencil line is too thick for this), along with drawing the "cabinetmaker's triangle" that lets me find again the proper orientation of every piece if I set one down the wrong way around.
You see, my tenons are each fitted individually to their mortises. So if I try to put in the wrong tenon (even if it's the exact same part on the other side of the seat, even if it's the exact same part but I'm trying the top tenon instead of the bottom tenon, even if it's the exact same tenon but I have it twisted 180 degrees)--it won't go. I think this may be a common problem--hence the cabinetmaker's triangle.
This takes a long time to explain and is really obvious in person. I couldn't find any good pictures on the web so I took some.
Here's the easy way to draw it on the pieces:
Here's how it looks with the pieces arranged properly:
And if one piece is flipped facedown
Or top-for-bottom
You can easily tell, and put it right again before you do something catastrophic like fit (or glue!) a tenon in the wrong mortise.
Now, obviously normally you don't mark the cabinetmaker's triangle with a MONSTER SHARPIE; you use a discreet light pencil or something you can easily sand off. But these are just scraps and I wanted good contrast so it was easy to see what I meant.
And now, what we've all been waiting for, the excellent and vivacious---Moxie!
Preparing for the day she meets her anxious and adoring public by donning gunwales and decks. Still needs thwarts and seat and varnish. But she's getting there.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-01 06:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-01 07:01 pm (UTC)The thwarts will brace her and make her stronger, and the seat will make her more comfortable for her paddler. And she'll look even better with a coat or two of varnish to make the wood shine, plus it will protect the bare wood parts so they don't weather and turn grey.