Reverse Engineering Complete

A few weeks ago I shared about my problems resawing with a handsaw. Several people suggested various jigs, and more than one told me just to go buy a circular saw.

Well, I decided to try to give myself a nice long straight edge to guide the saw. Ended up getting more and more complex, until this is what I ended up with:

In the end, it didn’t do that great of a job. So I put off doing this until the day before I had to pack up all my tools. I figured it was now or never, so I just slapped a board in the vise and went to work. And boy, was it work!

That picture was taken just after I finished resawing those four boards you see on the bench. Next, I used my bit brace to create the mortises in the side rails, and then chiseled out the waste until the mortises were mostly rectangular. Then I slapped some glue in there and clamped it all together. Here’s the finished product, side by side with the original:

It’s far from fine woodworking, but for something that will be under someone’s butt all the time and never in their field of vision, it should do the trick. And hey, I got some more mortise practice!

-- Eric at http://adventuresinwoodworking.com