Dog Gate - Intallment 4 - Getting Closer to Done

Vaughn McMillan

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OK, just to keep from getting harassed too much, I figure I'll post a few pics of my ongoing dog gate project...a fairly rare trip into Flatland for me. :p

If you missed it, here's the backstory on the gate. After some local lumber shopping. I decided to use kiln dried pine from the Borg. I priced poplar as a cheap hardwood, but couldn't justify $250 for materials alone. Lumber prices are outrageous in LA. I picked up two 16 foot long 2x6s for about $40 instead.

I cut the boards in half and milled them as 8' pieces, to cut down on loss from planer snipe. It took some rearranging in the shop to accommodate working with long lumber, but I got it jointed and planed, ending up with 1 1/8" thick stock. Little thinner than I was originally hoping for, but no biggie.

Dog Gate 01 - 800.jpg

One of the four boards had a bend in it that I didn't flatten. (I didn't have enough wood to do that and maintain thickness.) I figured I could use it on the shorter pieces.

Dog Gate 02 - 800.jpg

Instead of dragging out the chop saw for my rough crosscuts, I used the little cordless circular saw that came with a set. I also used the same little saw in the parking lot of Home Depot to cut the 16' boards in half to take home in my little Ranger pickup. I decided to try using one of my clamp-on straightedges as a guide. Worked pretty well.

Dog Gate 03 - 800.jpg

And the end result after rough cutting to length...

Dog Gate 04 - 800.jpg

Next, it was time to cut things to finished lengths. Since the two long stiles were longer than I could cut with stop blocks on either my miter gauge or crosscut sled, I clamped the two together and cut them to length...I wanted them to be exactly the same size. The exact length isn't important, but they have to match exactly.

Dog Gate 05 - 800.jpg Dog Gate 06 - 800.jpg

The shorter stiles and rails were easy to cut to exact (and matching) lengths with the miter gauge. A few more crosscuts, and I had the basic frame parts cut...

Dog Gate 07 - 800.jpg

Then it was time to drag out the mortiser. Did you know that a Johnson Paste Wax can is the same height as the table on a Shop Fox mortiser? Me neither.

Dog Gate 08 - 800.jpg

And next, the tenons. I have a block of UHMD plastic that's exactly 1 inch thick. I use it when I want a fence-side stop block when using the miter gauge. I just add an inch to whatever length I need, and dial it in on the Incra fence. Since these tenons were going to be longer than my dado stack is wide, I set the fence for my maximum tenon length, and took out the waste in two passes per face.

Dog Gate 09 - 800.jpg Dog Gate 10 - 800.jpg

More in the next post...
 
Continued...

Before too long, I had the mortises and tenons all cut.

Dog Gate 11 - 800.jpg

The tenons show that my dado stack is not perfectly flat...you can see where the outside cutters went a bit deeper. No problem, they won't be seen.

Dog Gate 12 - 800.jpg

Did a little cleanup by hand. (Tod...I finally got a chance to use the Two Cherries chisels. After tuning them up on the Tormek, they're sweet.)

Dog Gate 16 - 800.jpg

Still not smooth inside by any means, but I'll be using epoxy, so I'm not worried about little gaps that won't be seen. The fit is good and firm.

Dog Gate 13 - 800.jpg

The first dry fit...

Dog Gate 14 - 800.jpg Dog Gate 15 - 800.jpg

Then I fit the arched piece and the short stiles. I cut them to be a tight friction fit. They'll be held in place with biscuits and splines.

Dog Gate 18 - 800.jpg

I'll post more progress pics when I get a bit more time. For now, this ought to keep the pirates at bay for a day or so. :D
 
careful there vaughn you just might start lookin` at spinny stuff as a way to make flatwork more profitable instead of a craft of it`s own:rolleyes:
 
Return to the light, return to the light . . . That is looking really good there, Vaughn. Thanks for all the pics. That should silence your assailants for a while :thumb:.
 
Dang, Vaughn,

We have almost exactly the same tools, but my mortises and tenons don't fit together like that! Nice work! :thumb:

Now, who'll bet that he starts having spinny withdrawals sometime between now and glueup? ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
I don't know...kinda looks like a dog could go right thru this gate:huh:...I'd stick to the lathe if I was you Vaughn. :wave::p

Don't listen to those flatworkers...get back to spinning wood quick before it's to late. :eek:
 
Thanks guys. Don't worry, it didn't all go as smooth as the first parts did. Trust me, I'll have some good Doh! pics. :doh:And so far, no plans for turned parts on it. (And yes, there have been lathe withdrawals since Christmas.)

About the curve in the top rail, there's an arched piece that fits under the top rail.

Dog Gate 2 LR.jpg

Thanks again for the kind comments. More pics later...:wave:
 
Didn't you cut the tenons, and the mortices for the vertical slats, BEFORE you cut the arc? Woulda made it a lot easier.
I could have done that, but it seemed cutting the tenons would have been moot, since the shoulders still needed to be curved to match. You'll see in the next batch of pics how I attempted to cut the shoulders to match. And I came up with an easy way to do the mortises after cutting the curve. (Although I did mess it up the first try.) :eek:
 
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