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I built a cedar pergola for a client last summer. Pegged mortise and tenon joinery–I was really proud of it. As I was fitting the tenons of the angle braces on site, one was a bit snug so I pared either cheek a bit. Still too tight, so more paring. After a few rounds of paring I couldn’t fathom why it was still not sliding in. Before long I had a thin, sickly looking tenon that still wouldn’t fit. For some reason I hadn’t thought to check the “short” cheeks (for lack of a better word), the cheeks opposite the wide cheeks that I had been paring. I took a few slivers off the the short checks and it fell into place…now loser than a child’s front tooth. I didn’t have the materials to make a new angle brace, so I cursed under my breath and cut a shim to match the reduced width of the tenon and shoved it all in place. Luckily the mistake is hidden inside the mortise, but it was SO frustrating at the time. The project had about 30 tenons so it’s not that I didn’t know how to fit a darn tenon, I just had a mental lapse and forgot to check the most basic sticking points on one lousy tenon! Live and learn 🙂
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I picked up a set of spokeshaves from highland last month–one flat bottom and one convex. If you haven’t used spokeshaves yet, I think you’ll find that the flat bottom is MUCH easier to use than a convex. Paul even mentions this in one of his videos. The reason, based on my experience, is that a flat bottom has a full bottom surface to rest on the wood. The convex does not, unless you just happen to be working on an inner radius that is exactly the same as your spokeshave (which will be very rare). As a result, with the convex, you’re forced to use hand and muscle control much more to present the blade at the proper angle. That probably doesn’t sound that difficult, but in my experience it much more challenging than using a flat bottom. Unless you’re certain that you’ll be working on a lot of tight, inner corners I would recommend a flat bottom to start with. I made about 40 spatulas out of cherry as Christmas gifts this year and did it all with a flat bottom spokeshave and a couple of files. Hope that helps and Happy New Year!
Matt
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