Round Tapered Tenon Making and Reamer

[Simon Wells]

Dear All,

Looking to make a rustic garden gate from some coppiced wood, needs to be dog and toddler proof, wondering what size to ream the mortice and cut the tenons? Wood is about

I am thinking about using the Veritas Tapered tenon:

http://www.veritastools.com/Products/Page.aspx?p=151

and the Veritas adjustable reamer
http://www.veritastools.com/products/Page.aspx?p=385

Apart from a solar panel and old car battery my workshop has no power :lol:

So all to be done by hand.

Question 0:

Should I go for non-shouldered tenons ie:
http://www.veritastools.com/Products/Page.aspx?p=151

Question 1:
Is this a (shoulderd tenon and reamer) suitable combination of tools for the job in hand? Any other ones I should consider?

Question 2:
What size tenon cutter should I go for? 5/8th???? Needs to be tough as my toddler is a 'Barbarian War Lord'! :shock:

Question 3:
I'd like to pin the tenon, to make it enraged toddler proof, is this OTT?!?!

These tools would be used for other rustic fences, shaving horse, etc
Any one have a Veritas shoulder tenon cutter and reamer they'd like to sell?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Simon Wells]

wood is about 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter, could get thicker or thinner if needed, will leave bark on for full rustic affect.

Sorry left that bit out of the original email!

 

[xy mosian]

Simon,
I was rather hoping someone would come back to you with an answer. I have been looking at windsor chairs recently which use tapered joints extensively. There is a lot of good information around on tapered joints on various sites related to chair making, both windsor and stick. If you have a look at sites including words from Brian Boggs you'll not go far wrong.
Tapered joints need to be extremely tight fitting to be their strongest, I doubt even then that they would stand up against a determined onslaut from a toddler. If you are considering the use of pegs then why not use mortice and tenon joints? Even then you will have areas where water ingress could give problems.
Have you looked at a gate made in the style of a hurdle? Those are traditionally stock proof, not sure if that includes toddler proof, and are woven. There are no joints involved to drink water.
Best of luck.
xy

 

[Simon Wells]

Thank you, I shall look at hurdles. Yes, the more I think, mortice and tenon 'frame' to give it rigidity and strength then tapered shouldered 'inserts'.

Shall track down the words or Brian Boggs.

Thank you!

 

[deserter]

In traditional bodger style chairs the mortice would be steamed then cut and allowed to cool, as the wood cooled and shrank the hole became oval tightening onto the dry tennon. Could you employ this tactic in the making of your gate?


~Nil carborundum illegitemi~

 

[Simon Wells]

Yes, I like the idea of that, I'll have a look at that.

 

[deserter]

It was shown on a BBC programme called Masterworks I think sometime last year or the year before.


~Nil carborundum illegitemi~

 

[bugbear]

There are plenty of books describing windsor chair making in detailed (i.e. modern) terms. There was a massive burst of interest in the USA several years ago, so there was a big enough market that some of the makers could publish books at a profit.

But in a windsor design the legs are not only taper fitted to the seat, they're braced to each other too. The design and joints work in combination.

Here's some stuff on tapered joints:

http://chairnotes.blogspot.co.uk/2009/0 ... -your.html

http://www.greenwoodworking.com/SawStee ... eamerPlans

BugBear

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I was leafing through John Seymour's "The forgotten arts" over christmas. It has a couple of pages on gate making (and also covers hurdles, chairs, etc). The gates were mortice and tenon joints of a sort, cut using a twybil, if you enjoy collecting obscure tools, Ashley Iles still make them.

 

[AndyT]

From what little I know about it, there are two different items both called hurdles, made in two ways. One is an open framework of riven wood - fairly stout for the uprights, a bit lighter for the horizontals and the diagonal braces. These were made by tapering the ends of the horizontals to fit into rectangular mortices in the verticals. Mortices would be cut by drilling two holes with an auger then removing the little bit in between, with mallet and chisel or twybil. The braces were nailed on.

The other sort - a wattle hurdle - uses thinner round posts for the uprights and is filled in with thin or split hazel till it looks like basket work.

Construction was carefully geared to speed of making, green timber and carrying the minimum toolkit into the woods. Though skilled in its own way it does not work to the same tolerances as chair makers. Tapered round tenons were not used.

There's lots more info on the 'Bodger's Ask and Answer' forum - I suggest you have a read of this thread on gate hurdles and this one on the twybil.

 

[xy mosian]

It was a wattle hurdle I was thinking of.
xy

 

[Simon Wells]

Wow!

Thanks for that, I think the open hurdle will be the most interesting for me to build. So no need for reamers and tenons, but do a need a froe 8)

Thank you!

I am still waiting some books on green wood working to arrive from the library. So should have a better idea soon.