Stool Inlayed
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1 October 2015 at 1:46 pm #130966
Salko,
It’s beautiful. I love this finish, silky smooth, but not too shiny.
May your mom use it for many years.Marilyn
1 October 2015 at 11:18 pm #130971Thanks David, the wedges are for both aesthetics and strength but I am not sure as to what you mean. Can you elaborate on this.
3 October 2015 at 11:17 pm #131019Thanks David for your input as far as I know and the way my master has taught me the way I have done it is correct in fact I have never seen wedges placed across the grain horizontally, maybe some people do it but I personally have never seen it. Once the wedge has bottomed out which is why I use a steel hammer to get hear that distinct sound and feel I cease hammering not fearing that I will cause damage to the tenon but the wedge itself, I also tap lightly and equally on both wedges as I wedge them in. I also never saw the tenon for the wedges to fit in all the way down but stop either half way or 3/4 ways down. For the last 25 years I have worked this way and have had wedges shatter on me in the first year, that’s how I learned by making mistakes.
Hi Salko,
I think David meant parallel to the grain in the top of the stool. The fear is that the wedge will spread the tenon, stress the mortise parallel to the grain of the top of the stool, and split the top. If you look at Paul’s through tenons in drawers, he orients the wedge so that the spreading tenon does not risk splitting the drawer side. But that all being said, the top of your stool is a fairly heavy element and I’d think is much stronger than a drawer side. So, it’s probably fine. As an alternative, you could make make your current tenons be two square tenons with a gap in between and then run the wedges in the other direction so they don’t stress the long grain of the top.
Artistically, and as a matter of design, I like what you’ve done better. So, as long as the top is strong enough, I’d do it the way you did.
4 October 2015 at 5:36 am #131026I’m not trying to be rude but I have no idea of what you guys are talking about
All I understand and can visualize that your saying that I should place the wedges across the grain and not with it. I hope that’s not what you mean and I’m sure it isn’t. I did widen the mortices to accept the wedging. The glue on the tenons were fresh when I wedged it so the glue wouldn’t grab and possibly cause a break. The shakers have done it this way and I really dont any other way.
Please forgive my ignorance but o cannot visualize any other way
Not rude at all. Likewise, I hope the phrasing of the question wasn’t upsetting.
Please see the photo of the wedged tenons in this link and see the adjoining text. This is an example of the wedges oriented along the grain of the member that has the mortise: https://paulsellers.com/2014/02/hard-days-work-home-work/
Compare that with the photo of a wedged tenon in this link where the wedges are oriented across the grain of the member that has the mortise: https://paulsellers.com/2012/10/a-joiner-travelling-tool-chest/
“Across the grain” refers to the mortise, not the tenon.
Again, I like the way you did it and suspect that in the strong material that you used for your stool it isn’t as risky as in a narrow drawer side. Also, you widened your mortise to accept the wedge. It’s a risk, but I like the way yours looks better than the alternative.
4 October 2015 at 2:23 pm #131030Ok I understand now and looking at it I don’t see a problem doing it either way, the reason being whether you saw a wedge across or with the grain you don’t saw at an angle well actually there are two ways to do it. On my piece I did saw straight down but I didn’t saw right to the shoulder line because then I would risk putting all that pressure below the shoulder line when I would insert the wedge and risk splitting the timber. So I sawed only 3/4 of the way down, now let’s say I did saw right to the shoulder line and a freak of nature happened I hammered the life out of it and split the timber so what the whole piece is still held together by the glue and the mortise, it’s not going to fall apart on me nor will it split any further again because the mortise and glue are holding it together This is the worst case scenario, the other method is to saw at an angle right down to the shoulder line eliminating any possibility of splitting and as long as your wedge is longer than your tenon you won’t run the risk of it sinking below the surface. I don’t believe it makes an iota of a difference except for aesthetic reasons whether you place your wedge across or along the grain, both methods are structurally sound actually beyond sound as they’re virtually indestructible. You would have a hard time trying to pull them apart.
This is my thoughts on the subject but who is to say I am right, all I know that in all my years I have never had one come apart on me nor did I ever split one and I never paid attention to grain direction either I did what looked good to me at the time, I may have done along the grain but I doubt it I just cannot remember as I never gave it any thought. The worst that happened to me once was the wedge crumbling from overzealous hammering. I was on a deadline and was running out of time and that’s when mistakes happen, I actually snapped the wedge below my flush line. I repaired the mistake the bottom half was wedged but the top half was just glued on then flushed. If one wanted to you could of picked the top out but the strength was in the bottom half which you could not pull apart. Only my pride was damaged in the process.
4 October 2015 at 3:09 pm #131031The wedging force should be oriented so that the force is exerted against the end grain of the mortised piece. In this orientation there is little to no chance of splitting the mortised piece and the joint will be unaffected by wood movement.
If the wedging force is against the long grain of the mortised piece there is a danger of splitting the mortised piece when the wedges are installed. There is also danger of a split developing later on as the mortised piece shrinks across the its width effectively generating greater force against the wedged tenon. -
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