Stepladder: Episode 4
Posted 27 September 2017
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Once the steps have been finessed, the wedged aspect of the top and bottom steps is prepared. Then the front frame can be glued up, with the wedging closing up any gaps. Then it just needs cleaning up.
Paul,
I might have detected a small split on the first step you were working on. If so, how would you deal with that? I have had several projects affected by split outs and I’ve never been happy with my solution.
Thanks, in any case, for all that you do for us. I finally got round to doing the work bench after almost every other project in the course (kind of backwards, I know). I built it 39″ high and love the height. I’m older now, and both for vision reasons and posture reasons, the higher work surface is terrific.
Cheers,
Joe Newman
Ohio (formerly South Carolina)
Sometimes Mahogany has a really dark line that looks like is a split. I doubt that Paul would use a piece with that big of a crack, I think. And sometimes cracks are so invisible that they only become obvious when joining together 🙂 that’s the nasty surprise! What I do with them, if they are between dovetail, I just leave it like that. But if it were a stepladder tread, I wouldn’t use it for sure.
Hi Joseph,
If there was a split on a stepladder step, you would have to be careful. It might not be in a place that is structural. If you have a split, the normal course of action is to try and squeeze PVA in, sometimes by teasing the crack apart, then clamp it up and leave it to dry overnight.
Best, Phil
Nice job.
I’ve never seen tenons wedged in that fashion before.
Is it much better than wedging square across ?
I think there wouldn’t be much in the difference.
There’s always something new to glean from these lessons.
Many thanks to all concerned.
Daragh Holmes.
I think they are only angled so that they line up perpendicular to the long grain in the long parts (to reduce the chance of splitting).
That’s right. Paul discusses it at 35:35 of episode 3.
I get the angle. I don’t get why you need 2 of them in a tenon this small. Seems like 1 would have got it done easily and made for a more stressfree glueup.
Hello Eran, sorry about that. The system made a mistake. We have now corrected that so you have access until the 14th. Many thanks.
Phil
I’m glad you stopped and made note when the tenon busted out the side a little, I always pause and wonder what to do a bit when that kind of thing happens to me, especially in glue-up. You could have cut around it, but watching Paul fixing the little mistakes helps me get better at my woodworking – that’s the stuff that’s not in books. Thanks guys.