A wedged through-tenon after the gelled glue has been removed.
In 2018, I shared this trick that David Savage used to improve dovetail joints. He called it “Juicy Lucy,” and it involves flooding the exterior of a joint with extra hide glue to swell the fibers and improve the joint cosmetically.
We continue to use his trick with dovetails with great success. And at some point I started using it with the wedged through-tenons on my chairs. Here’s how I do it.
Applying glue around all show surfaces of the joint before wedging.
After I glue the joint and assemble it (but before wedging), I paint a thick coat of glue around the show surface of the joint. Then I paint glue on the wedge and knock it in place.
Once the glue has gelled, I remove the excess with a dry rag and let the joint continue to set up overnight.
I’ve been real happy with the results.
— Christopher Schwarz
What the glued tenon looks like just before wedging.
We have been packing up materials for our trip to Iowa this week for Handworks, our favorite woodworking/sausage show in the world.
Our booth will be in the same place as it has been during every Handworks. We plan to have almost all of our titles with us, all of our tools and some of our apparel. (Basically, we won’t be bringing the T-shirts, chore coats and vests – we don’t have the room to travel with all the sizes.)
To make your experience better, we will have two different ways for you to check out when you buy something from us. If you just want to pay for something and head to the next booth, we are going to have an “Express Checkout” person on the right side of our booth. They will get you on your way as fast as possible.
If you want to chat (also great) we will have the “Chatty Checkout” people – basically me and Megan. We can sign books, answer questions and the like – and process your order. Our line will move slower than the Express Checkout line.
We’re trying this to attempt to reduce customer frustrations during the last three Handworks. I can remember one customer bending my ear for a good 15 minutes while the people behind him simply wanted to pay for a book and bolt.
We want to make everyone happy. So use the Express Checkout (there will be a sign) if you are in a rush.
We’ll be accepting cash, checks and most major credit cards. The first 300 or so customers will also get a free embroidered Woobie with their purchase.
Scraping the backrest of an Irish armchair in bog oak.
This has been a wild week, and we should be sitting by the pool with some margaritas. But instead, we are here for the Lost Art Press Open Wire.
If you’ve got questions about woodworking, our books, tools or grub ephemera, we are your answer team.
This week’s open wire is hosted by me and Megan. Here’s how it works: Type your question in the comment field. Brevity is appreciated. We will do our best to answer it. It is that simple.
Two notes: 1) Comments for this entry will close about 5 p.m. Eastern. And 2) Next week’s Open Wire will be held in In Person at Handworks in Iowa. So come to the Amana Colonies and meet some of your 5,000 closest friends.
NOTE: Posts are closed for this week’s session. Next week we will be LIVE at Handworks in Iowa answering questions.
Centering the tenon on a stick can be a challenge.
One of the biggest hurdles chairmaking students face when making their stretchers and sticks is drilling the tenon on the end of the stick. I use the Veritas Power Tenon cutters for this. And we do it freehand with the cutter in a drill.
So some skill and practice is required.
(Yes, I know I can mount the tenon cutters in a lathe and build a platform for the stick so the tenon is perfect every time. A lot of students don’t have or want a lathe. And my goal is to teach this craft with as few tools and jigs as possible. Why? It’s just how the Grasshopper God made me.)
Some students get the feel for it after a few sticks. One student burned through – no lie – more than 30 sticks, and he still didn’t get it right.
I’m always asking other chairmakers for tips on how to teach people to use this tool. From my own experience, here are the important steps:
Level the stick in the vise.
Level the tenon cutter using its bubble level.
Press firmly forward.
Advance steadily, and check to ensure you are still level and the cutter is perpendicular to the stick.
Chairmaker Travis Curtis offered this helpful suggestion: Try to observe the whole operation – don’t narrow your focus to one small area in front of the cutter. This will help you steer straighter.
It’s like driving a car (or cutting with a band saw). If you look right at the pavement in front of the hood, your steering will be erratic and you might squish the Grasshopper God inadvertently, bringing shame and a 20-year curse on your house.
But if you look a mile ahead of your car, your steering will be steady and smooth.
This is a helpful tip. But it didn’t fix everyone’s problems.
Then Derek Jones taught his Cricket Table class here a couple weeks ago and he modified all my drills by gluing a bubble level on top of each one. (We have an entire drawer of individual bubble levels; you cannot buy just one.)
These bubble levels make the tenon-drilling process even more predictable. You can’t see the bubble level on the tenon cutter when it is spinning. But you can see the one on the drill. So you can make fine adjustments as you drill and observe the entire process in your field of vision.
Like this:
I love solving a problem using the brains of a bunch of people. Give this a try if you haven’t already.
