Tenting chiselling technique.

[homeinthecity]

I’ve seen some mentions of ‘tenting’ when chiselling, something I believe was taught by David Charlesworth. It’s meant to protect the sharp edge of the joint I think.

Does anyone have any pointers on how best to use this?

I can’t find David’s videos except on secondhand DVD.

 

[Jacob]

I’ve seen some mentions of ‘tenting’ when chiselling, something I believe was taught by David Charlesworth. It’s meant to protect the sharp edge of the joint I think.

Does anyone have any pointers on how best to use this?

I can’t find David’s videos except on secondhand DVD.

If you want to plane or pare the end of a piece across the grain you have to avoid spelching-out, so all the cuts go in from the side without going off the other side, i.e. as bevels. Bevels on four sides gives you a shape like a shallow tent or hipped roof, or a 4 sided pyramid, which you then flatten.

 

[Ttrees]

Derek has some postings on this.
The width of chisel being a bit narrower to suit lowering of the third facet, is worth noting.

Tom

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I’ve seen some mentions of ‘tenting’ when chiselling, something I believe was taught by David Charlesworth. It’s meant to protect the sharp edge of the joint I think.

Does anyone have any pointers on how best to use this?

I can’t find David’s videos except on secondhand DVD.

I wrote a little bit about this technique in a recent-ish article in Quercus magazine. Tenting involves chiseling a "tent" . It looks like this ^ Used especially in dovetailing. This is an exert from an article on my website on through dovetails ...



Each chisel cut is at a slight angle (chisel from the non-show side first) ..

The reason for angling the chisel slightly away from the board (opposite of undercutting) is to avoid damaging the show baseline due to striking through.

The result is a slight triangle at the middle of the board. This is pared away …

Use your fingers as a depth stop to prevent paring deeper than the triangle of waste.

I prefer to tap the rear of the handle with the heel of my hand, as opposed to pushing the chisel, as this affords greater control of the cut. It is too easy to over-push the chisel (and damage the show side).


I prefer a narrow chisel (typically ¼”) to remove the waste. A slight undercut at this point is fine – this section of the joint is not structural, that is, it does not hold glue well (as it is end grain to end grain).

An alternative to paring straight is to use a slightly wider chisel and slice in a semi-circular manner.

Tenting is also used at the ends of the board, with the half-pins. Here you "tent" the sides of the waste, angling to the middle of the half-pin. Then you finish with clearing the centre.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Jacob]

.........

Tenting is also used at the ends of the board, with the half-pins. Here you "tent" the sides of the waste, angling to the middle of the half-pin. Then you finish with clearing the centre.

....

Thats what I call "making a little roof shape", as "tenting" seems to be a bit of Charlesworthese overthinking perhaps.
Dovetails traditionally done exactly the opposite and a much easier way:
the boards are placed (clamped) horizontally on the bench or on a cutting surface with tails/pins towards you, waste removed with a mallet and appropriate sizes chisel until very close to the knife line.
Turned over to do both sides.
Then the chisel placed in the knife line for the final cut, with a bias towards leaning away from the line so that it doesn't press into the knife wall but instead will slightly undercut the waste between pins/tails. Leaves a little undercut face from both sides - could call it a reverse tent?
The result is that the knife line is guaranteed to close up nice and tight, with the undercut "reverse tent" out of sight and full of glue.
Another big bonus if the trad way is that you can stack all your drawer or carcase sides in a staggered heap and do all of one side of all the dovetails in one operation without rearranging the stack, then turn it and do all the other sides. Bearing in mind that a chest of drawers may involve 100 to 200 DTs which makes an efficient working system essential.

An alternative to paring straight is to use a slightly wider chisel and slice in a semi-circular manner.

Very difficult to pare/chisel into the end of a springy board sticking up from a vice with a chisel unless you slice, rather than simply whacking it with a mallet, which is much easier

 

[Adam W.]

Tenting, yikes!

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tenting
:Shocker!:

 

[Ttrees]

I thought ye'd be arguing about cutting shoulders straight from the saw.

 

[homeinthecity]

I wrote a little bit about this technique in a recent-ish article in Quercus magazine. Tenting involves chiseling a "tent" . It looks like this ^ Used especially in dovetailing. This is an exert from an article on my website on through dovetails ...



Each chisel cut is at a slight angle (chisel from the non-show side first) ..

The reason for angling the chisel slightly away from the board (opposite of undercutting) is to avoid damaging the show baseline due to striking through.

The result is a slight triangle at the middle of the board. This is pared away …

Use your fingers as a depth stop to prevent paring deeper than the triangle of waste.

I prefer to tap the rear of the handle with the heel of my hand, as opposed to pushing the chisel, as this affords greater control of the cut. It is too easy to over-push the chisel (and damage the show side).


I prefer a narrow chisel (typically ¼”) to remove the waste. A slight undercut at this point is fine – this section of the joint is not structural, that is, it does not hold glue well (as it is end grain to end grain).

An alternative to paring straight is to use a slightly wider chisel and slice in a semi-circular manner.

Tenting is also used at the ends of the board, with the half-pins. Here you "tent" the sides of the waste, angling to the middle of the half-pin. Then you finish with clearing the centre.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks Derek, more information than I could’ve hoped for!!