Shaker End Tables Part 2
After I got all my parts milled out I needed to cut the tapers on the legs. I whipped up a tapering jig from a scrap piece of plywood. Making the jig was a cinch. All I had to do is figure out where I wanted the taper to start on the leg (6" from the top) and where it would end (3/4" thick foot). Then I nailed strips of thin plywood around the leg to hold it in place.
I slid the jig over on the table saw so that the blade barely touches the pencil line to start the cut. Then I ripped the piece off and flipped the leg 90 degrees to taper the other side. Once all the legs were tapered, I gathered them all up in sets of fours and taped them together. That way I wouldn't be confused which direction they go.
After I got down with the tapering, I planed them smooth and beaded the straight edge on each leg with my Stanley No 66 beading plane. The bead also helped me identified which side of the leg gets the mortise. It got really confusing sometimes but once I marked the proper location of each leg it became a lot simpler.
I used loose mortise and tenon joinery and cut my mortises with a Beadlock joinery jig. I'm not going to waste your time about how I actually cut the mortises because I found the jig to be a piece of shit. It was difficult to align the mortises with each other and I was constantly fiddling around with the jig to make the joint work. Next time I make these tables I'll find another way to make the mortise and tenons.
Once all the joints were cut, I dry fitted the three sides together and laid out where the top and bottom front rails would go for the drawer.
The top of the front rail is cut with a simple dovetail joint while the bottom is a small mortise and tenon. Both were cut using hand tools and they are very simple joints to make. I drilled out the pin part of the dovetail and the mortise using a 5/8" Forster bit. each joint took about five minutes to complete.
After everything was dry fitted, I glued and clamped each table together. I let them sit in clamps over night to make sure the glue sets. I'll work on the tops next.
