The things you have to learn for yourself.....

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Well.....yesterday I got the upper and lower back rails and the front seat rail for the porch swing cut to length, ripped, jointed and planed to thickness. Then I cut the tenons on each end. Then I drew out on those 3 rails the 34 mortises that need to be cut........30 - 1/4" mrotises and 4 - 1/2" mortises.

I used a reamer to sharpen my 1/4" moritser chisel followed by a coarse and fine diamond cone hones. Then using a jeweler file, I sharpened that convoluted mortiser bit. It was 8:45 p.m. and my favorite show on television comes on at 9:00 p.m. but..... in 15 minutes I got the mortiser set up for position and depth and cut 4 of those mortises.

This morning with my first cup of coffee, I went to the shop and finished those mortises on the lower back rail.

After mowing the yard, I finished all 34 mortises.

What I learned:

1. I really like my General International mortiser! It made the job a lot easier and more fun.
2. Sharp tools whether a standard bench chisel, a hollow mortiser chisel, a bit or a plane blade is a must. Abraham Lincoln was right. The time spent sharpening is more valuable than the time spent cutting.
 
Prior to this porch swing, the total number of mortise and tenons I had used was 12. This swing has 50 or more mortise and tenon joints. I dry fitted the two end frames to the 3 rails...upper back rail, lower back rail and front seat rail. I paid close attention to layouts and tolerances. The dryfitted joints went together and were "pleasantly snug". It is impressive how strong these dry fitted joints are and yet...they aren't glued yet.

Something as simple as a porch swing can sure be a great project for a lot of learning........I can't forget the lesson about the Japanese pull saw yet either. I'm still putting liquid bandages on it several times a day......LOL!
 
Sharp is always good. Even when it comes to pull saws. :D

A mortising machine is a wonderful tool, isn't it? I got mine to do a project that needed a bunch of square holes, and although I've not used it a lot since, I've enjoyed having it the times I've needed it.
 
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