Part 2 - Timber Framing Tutorial

Carol Reed

In Memoriam
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Coolidge, AZ
This part should catch up to where I am, so it will be long. But lots of pictures. :)

To begin, here are my main go to tools and the redneck sharpening station I set up.

O most used tools.jpg N reedneck sharpening.jpg

To sharpen (often) I simply slide the back of the chisel on the 240 grit PSA sandpaper 3-4 times. Then I draw the bevel side backwards twice. Works real well.

So I began with a side header. I cut the 16' 4x4 down to 15" long.

S cutting posts to length.jpg

Then I cut 2 16' to 8' lengths for the 4 posts. They each needed a 2x2x2 1/2" tenon on one end. I needed some practice first. I can tell you muscling 16' 4x4's around is not work for an old lady. Had to get into the Aleve bottle. Dimension lumber is wet and very heavy.

I used the 1 foot cut off to make a sample tenon. I cut the shoulders of the tenon with the SCMS to 3/4" deep. Then I cut the cheeks by hand with the pull saw. This was not particularly accurate or acceptable.

B Test Tenon.jpg

I decided to face off the tenon cheeks with a router.

H Setting router bit depth.jpg

I set the bit depth to 3/4" and put a Big Foot base on my router. You can find plans for that in my router book, Router Joinery Workshop. The issue with this is that I am measuring waste with the idea of having a finished part to the correct dimensions. This is a real good place not to assume anything! But we prevailed. Cutting the tenons by hand was way too much work! I had lots more tenons to cut. I decided to borrow a friend's band saw for the next batch, as mine is unavailable. But I did get the posts done the hard way.

R completed post tenons.jpg

Now I went after the housed mortises in the headers to receive the posts. Since I finally had tenons all the same size I could use my sample tenon to measure and mill the mortises. Turns out that process needs some work before I mill the rest of them, too.

I marked out the mortise by drawing the outline and setting the lines with the chisel. Then I drilledl four 1" holes with a new spurred spade bit.

G Marking out the nortise.jpg C Start Mortise.jpg

Then chop the waste with the sharp chisel.

Now the housing part. I inserted the test tenon and marked the edges of the housing and hand cut to 1/2" deep. Back to the router, this time set to 1/2" and cleaned out the housing face.

I housed mortise routed flat.jpg

Ooops. Hit the picture limit.

To be continued.
 

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