My next trim scheme will be a straightforward craftsman scheme, head casings of 5/4 stock, sides of 3/4, butted up to the heads, which will have little overhangs, maybe 1/2-inch or so.
I have built a lot of furniture and have experienced, and designed around, lots of wood movement as moisture levels change. I was thinking, wouldn’t it be cool, and mask any shrinkage, to mortise those sides up into the heads, about the depth of a hinge mortise.
I am dreaming up the jig, and figuring on using one of those little square corner chisel punches I have.
I know, I know, why not biscuit? But I have nothing against biscuits, in fact I cut slots for about fifty #20s today. But biscuits can pop, and there’s your crack, whereas shrinkage would have to go wild to slip clear up over my little embedded joints.
Replies
you worried about the head casing shrinkin , right? Go for it.
lemme know what happens, ...ya might just half lap it and let her float..
geez, what the hell am I sayin..pocket screw the thing and be done with it..
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
Micro
I took some of that craftsman type trim out of a house that was period, it had exactly what you describe.
You should be able to make a jig and do them fairly fast.
Seems like a good idea.
Doug
Exactly!
I've seen it in the old ones too.
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I did something similar with no mortises, biscuits, glue, or anything like that. Instead, all the edges were rounded over so if the joints are not tight it doesn't show. Worked fine.
There's a photo here at this post. http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=38882.6
My whole house is done in cherry and maple, all butted with eased edges as you show. I liked it when I did it, but am ready for something new.
I thought I had seen it discussed and shown in a mag article once. And I am pleased to hear about it coming out of some older homes.
This next one will be outfitted in softwood. I am thinking of doug fir for the main, pine with some knots on the second. Let's see, 40 windows, 27 interior doors, that's about 100 heads with mortised ends. A clever benchtop jig, well-jointed stock. Should't be too bad, maybe one afternoon.
I am thinking that the socketed joint will be good two ways . . . no open-ups due to shrinkage, and a little less perfection needed in length and square when cutting the top ends of sides. The joints should handle corners a little off from 90, with ease.
Bottom ends of sides will get joined to stools with screws driven from below, before nail-up.
Doing a house right now. Also making furniture for the house. I am using beech which moves miles if not conditioned well and even then still moves 3/4 of a mile.
What you are talking about sounds like a lot of work. When I think about doing that in my house (36 windows, 32 doors or something like that), I shiver at the time commitment.
Not that M & t joints take a long time to make but when you're trimming out a whole house, they definitely take a long time to make. In my opinion, if you want to finish this century, you should biscuit joint or pocket screw. Biscuit joint for faster, pocket screw for better (though I think that biscuits would definitely be good enough).
Good luck and don't work too hard
Rob Kress
Think about it. The side casing isn't machined at all for the joint. Just cut square. The heads all have a common "horn" length (read: overhang), so an unhanded router jig, equipped with stops and toggle clamps, is used. Each end of each head gets a cut, and my estimation of cycle time, per cut, is 90 seconds, max. Two zips with a 1/2" diameter mortising bit. Depth isn't that critical . . . just be sure to make some minimum, say 3/32" or so. 100 parts make for 150 minutes of cutting time. The rest of the afternoon will be spent with the corner punch and paring chisel.
If it is twice that I've spent a full day, not half. No biggie.
I did what you describe on some ganged windows that had not only casing legs at the sides but intermediate casings also. Install all four casings slightly long, measure and cut head, set head in place, scribe locations of casings using matte knife, take head to the bench and use a chisel to mortise slightly where the scribe lines are. Easier than trying to make all four casings the exact same height. Adds maybe 5-10 minutes per head. Make a jig similar to a door buck so you can just set the head on edge on the bench and work on it.