Holtzapffel Workbench #2: Next Mortising Session

That looks good.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker

looks good from here

one of the cornercheisels from either two cherry or from crown will do the trick pretty fast
they have them in 2-3 different sizes

and they are great to have if you need to square corners after routerjobs

Dennis

Yes, a corner chisel would be faster. According to Chris Schwarz in the book “Handtool Essentials”, they are expensive, difficult to sharpen, but very handy.

-- Michael :-{| Diapers and politicians both need to be changed often; and for the same reason.

I am sorry to say there is no magic way to do the corners.
A corner chisel, as mentioned above, would be easier but with the cost and the difficulty of sharpening it I am not sure it would be worth it for 8 mortises.
You could get a mortising chisel the same width as the mortise but how often will you use a 5/8” mortising chisel. Again, I could’nt recommend it for the 6 remaining mortises.
Remember, you only have 6 more to go!
The bench looks nice, and it looks like the sandpaper took care of the bump in the center of the tenon shoulder.
Good work John!

Forget about the sandpaper to clean the shoulders, just pare it with your chisel if you have a high spot. One trick that a lot of people use when paring the shoulders is to angle the chisel in toward the tenon ever so slightly, so you actually undercut the shoulder. This ensures the edges of the shoulders are a tight fit with the mortised component and you don’t see any gaps.

-- Andy -- Old Chinese proverb say: If you think something can't be done, don't interrupt man who is doing it.

... I remember the first mortise and tenon I put together, measure twenty times cut ever so gently ten times – and then finally the magic moment, when wood meets wood. From your very good photos it seems like you feel the same way.

-- Love thy neighbour as thyself

Ex. Thanks for the nice words. I do feel that way still. The bench is almost complete. I will post the final product once it’s done. It’s been a while since I’ve posted and I went way over-the-top on it. It’s a labor of love, and I’m in no rush.