Through mortice and tenon moulded frame order of operations

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Biliphuster

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I recently completed a small picture frame, and decided to build it like a miniature sash window. As I was doing it I made a conscious effort to think about the order in which I was doing things, and to try and make the process as efficient and accurate as possible. Any comments from those in the know on the order or method would be appreciated.

Start by laying out lengths across the rails or stiles, ganged up and marked across with a square and knife.
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After this I started morticing, mostly from the back, and then finishing off from the show face. Despite taking my time and trying to keep the chisel straight, my morticing still leaves much to be desired.

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Cleaned up the mortice end walls with an edge float

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Then I cut in the tenon shoulders after putting in a strong knife line.

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The material for this frame was only 5/8, and I don't have a small enough moulding plane to work a nice profile, so I marked out a simple chamfer.

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Then planed it across the whole piece tenons and all).

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Once the chamfer was done, I planed the rebate on the back side, the parts were pretty much in equal thirds.

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After this I leveled off the "landing face" around the mortice for the tenon shoulders to contact.

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Then I set about the tenons, first doing the cheek cuts.

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Trimming up the cheeks in parallel with the rest of the piece using a router plane.

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Sort out the shoulders.

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Then a quick knock together to see how things are looking. I used this opportunity to mark precisely where on the morticed stiles the moulding on the tenoned rails land.

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Using this mark I mitre the moulding down to the level of the rebate and mortice face, then cut away the end grain to form the cope, the moulding on the stile is left intact and this piece covers it. If only all mouldings were as easy to cope as a simple chamfer.

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I then realised I should have mixed up my shellac days ago. This will be step 1 next time.

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Another test fit, this time with mouldings coped. Not looking as terrible as it might.

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Trim tenons to more reasonable length

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Apply glue, clamp up, knock in some wedges, two for each tenon. All the shoulders closed up, once enough clamping pressure had been applied (note: these are very, very, very strong clamps). After this I gave the whole thing a plane to level up the surfaces and neaten it up, as well as trim off excess stile beyond the mortices (left on for strength and sacrificial corners until this point).

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After some shellac padded on and a quick wax not looking too shabby. I think it looks just different enough with the non mitred corners to make someone take a second look.

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Unfortunately there was one problem, which was little split in one of the mortices, although it still held together well, and a picture frame is unlikely to have the roughest life, I think it will be fine. The tenons show quite nicely too for those who wish to take that second look.

55yLsUG.jpg


The hardest parts of this were (as always) keeping the mortices neet, especially on the show side, and planing the face flush after gluing. This wood hates being planed across the grain, so there was a lot of dodgy plane ballet to get it round the corners nicely, there are still a few bumps here and there, but I was not really improving the situation the more I tried to get rid of them. Maybe I should have sanded it with a flat block.

Anyway, any comments appreciated, especially on things I could improve and better ways to plane around the corners with changing grain direction.

Cheers.
 
Nice WIP.

I think I might have been tempted to use a haunched tenon in a joint so close to the end of the stiles, reducing the amount of weak short grain. You might not have suffered that crack if you had.

You could have saved yourself a bit of work by using a stopped chamfer. They make a great decorative effect, too.
 
Looks good to me, and a lot of satisfaction!
I did a briefer summary of something similar here glazed-doors-mostly-by-hand-t39419.html
and noted at the time that I was following the sequence shown in Charles Hayward's book on joints. Your sequence is the same, so I don't disagree with it!

I've seen it said on here that it's easier to cut mortices square if you can see the back or front of the chisel and judge that it's vertical. You had your stiles along the bench, like I did. This could be another advantage of a mortising stool, where you face in line with the work.

Nice drive-by on the Walker Moore router. :)
 
"The hardest parts of this were (as always) keeping the mortices neet, especially on the show side, and planing the face flush after gluing. This wood hates being planed across the grain, so there was a lot of dodgy plane ballet to get it round the corners nicely, there are still a few bumps here and there, but I was not really improving the situation the more I tried to get rid of them. Maybe I should have sanded it with a flat block.

Anyway, any comments appreciated, especially on things I could improve and better ways to plane around the corners with changing grain direction."

If you make the stiles a tad wider, you will have the luxury of planing away any bruising or tear-out on the show side of the mortice.
Regarding the cracked mortice, I think on traditional sash, the tenon is not as wide. A longer horn also helps.
As for planing around the corners, why would you choose your stock so that you have changing grain direction?
Good job, btw. Making something and practicing a technique is the best way to go.
 
Interesting WIP, thanks for posting. It's the first time I've seen the coping of the moulding "in action" as opposed to seeing it in a book. I'll have to give that a try one day.

MikeG.":36mfse8v said:
You could have saved yourself a bit of work by using a stopped chamfer. They make a great decorative effect, too.

That's an excellent tip. Sometimes the best way to tackle a problem is to avoid it altogether.
 
dzj":3dl26fsq said:
As for planing around the corners, why would you choose your stock so that you have changing grain direction?

The frame pieces join at 90 degrees, so there is always going to be a change in grain direction unless I carve a frame out of the solid. Unfortunately this wood hates being planed across the grain, leaves a terrible, ragged finish even with a lot of skew on the plane. I think the only way to achieve a perfect finish would be sanding.

AndyT":3dl26fsq said:
Nice drive-by on the Walker Moore router. :)

Oh that old thing, just brought out for a change really, had it at the back tool chest for years. . . . .


MikeG.":3dl26fsq said:
Nice WIP.

I think I might have been tempted to use a haunched tenon in a joint so close to the end of the stiles, reducing the amount of weak short grain. You might not have suffered that crack if you had.

You could have saved yourself a bit of work by using a stopped chamfer. They make a great decorative effect, too.

Yes, I had though about haunching, but the tenons were already so slight, I didn't want them looking like glorified pegs. I think you are probably right about leaving extra length, I was trying to be thrifty, and of course regretted it.

A stopped chamfer is a nice idea, and I love a nice lambs tongue, but I don't think it would save that much work. Coping a simple moulding is probably as easy as cutting and smoothing a lambs tongue, except on a frame this size I would have needed a spokeshave rather than a finely set smoothing plane to do the chamfer itself, which I think might have gone badly.

Thanks for the comments all
 
Biliphuster":hdp3j7pq said:
........ on a frame this size I would have needed a spokeshave rather than a finely set smoothing plane to do the chamfer itself, which I think might have gone badly......

My weapon of choice is a draw-knife. Plus chisels and a scraper.
 
Looking nice.

Serious router plane envy here. How did you manage to get hold of the Walkemoore plane? That is a serious bit of kit...

Sent from my MI 3W using Tapatalk
 
nice variation of a typical picture frame, looks quite tricky in parts, cutting thin tenons like that accurately isn't easy.
 

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