Galoots,

I stopped to take a few pictures of my Work In Progress.
It isn't my design, and isn't what I would build for myself,
but it is what my friend wanted.

I tried to load the photos on the groups.io site, but when
one tries to acquire a link to the individual pictures you
get really strange looking URLs. So I just included the
link to my album. You'll have to dig up the pictures and
try and match them to my words.

Here you go...
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/album?id=267353

I decided to use a 10 degree wedge for the tusk tenons.
that seems to be small enough to stick and large enough
to unstick without having to hammer the heck out of it.

I've made this kind of thing before, so I rummaged around
for the 10 degree paring block I recall having made.
There it was, along with the sample wedges. 10, 11, and
12 degree wedge blanks, but only the 10 degree paring
block. 'Cause that's what I ended up using last time.

I dunno why, intuition or inspiration, but something moved
me to stick the wedge against the block and slide a square
up against them. Not square. Out came the protractor.
The wedge is a neat 10 degrees, but the paring block
was 12. Despite having "10" literally written all over it.

Should I switch to 12 or start a fight with the tools to
fix this thing? I could hear you all out there chanting 'fight!
fight! fight!', so I pulled out some really precise tools and
set about adjusting the paring block to match the
numbers on it. That end grain red oak is tough but
it behaves quite nicely, so I soon had an actual 10
degree paring block. yay.

So.
What was I doing?
Right, wedge mortises.

I set a double square to make the layout easy
and proceeded to make a sample out of an offcut.
I used a very nice #8 auger bit to clear the bulk
of the waste from the mortise, then pared it square.
The paring block was clamped on to guide the final
cut.

The sample was really good, so I proceeded to
botch the cutting of the first real mortise. Luckily,
the wedges I made up (neanderbuddy work, not
shown here) are big enough to do the job even on
the mis-cut mortise.

Once I figured out which way was UP, the layout
and cutting of the rest of the mortises was quick
and easy. The shelf unit is mostly done now, apart
for some finish. That will probably be orange shellac.

Darrell
uh oh, now I have to start on that lying press.

-- 
Oakville ON
Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User