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March madness when you buy a mortise and tenon jig

March 1, 2011 By

Pure madness, I tell ya. What are they doing at Leigh Industries? Simple — it’s March Madness time! They are going all out to make sure you get the Super FMT, and in the process they throw in a bunch of stuff for free. FREE!

March madness!

OK — here’s the deal (from the Leigh web site):

Mortise & Tenon Jig Special! During the month of March, buy a Leigh Super FMT Jig and receive a 22-piece Accessory Kit absolutely FREE! Not only will you discover how easy it is to rout mortise & tenon joints, but with the Accessory Kit you can make tons of extra joints, all in a cleaner workshop! This offer valid in USA and Canada only…Hurry! Offer ends March 31, 2011.

How about a little eye candy? Also from their web site:

The free accessory kit is a must-have.

Don’t forget to fill out the form at the web page, and mail it to Leigh. Make sure to attach the UPC from the Super FMT carton, and a copy of your receipt.

One additional recommendation I make: Buy an extra set of the F-clamps for the Super FMT (there are 2 clamps in the set). They simplify clamping of larger work pieces. You will be glad you got them. For only an additional $20, they are worth getting at the same time as your Super FMT. Part # 9500PR.

Disclosure: Leigh is a sponsor of my blog. I sometimes receive tools from my sponsors, for evaluation purposes. I do not receive payment in any way, shape, or form from Leigh, or from any other sponsor. I receive a small commission from your purchases only through my Affiliates (Amazon.com, Woodcraft, Rockler, and StudioPress); these help defray my costs a little. I thank you for your support of my effort!

— Al Navas

Mortise & Tenon Jig Special! During the month of March, buy a Leigh Super FMT Jig and receive a 22-piece Accessory Kit absolutely FREE! Not only will you discover how easy it is to rout mortise & tenon joints, but with the Accessory Kit you can make tons of extra joints, all in a cleaner workshop! This offer valid in USA and Canada only.
Hurry! Offer ends March 31, 2011.
Filed Under: Blog, Jigs, Leigh jig, Mortise, Super FMT, Tenon, Tools Tagged With: , , , , ,

Drawer stops for the stand-up desk

April 6, 2010 By

If you follow the blog, you already know I dislike stuck drawers, and sloppy fitting drawers. In the sloppy category I place a drawer that goes into the opening crooked, such that you must fiddle with it to align it to the opening. The solution to avoid this is to install drawer stops, and to carefully trim them to ensure perfect alignment of the drawer front with the apron.I use a variation of the technique used by Mario Rodriguez, which he discussed during his presentation at Woodworking in America at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; I shot and edited a video that you can watch at this link.

To ensure proper alignment, I insert a drawer stop into a mortise I mark and then chop with chisels. I also use liquid hide glue, to make it easy to replace the stops if needed:

The right drawer stop.

The following photo shows the taper I put on the bottom of the front edge; this allows me to tweak the position of the stop during the glue-up (once the glue has cured, I simply trim the edge to ensure perfect alignment of the drawer front):

The left stop.

In the next photo I show the two drawer stops installed, and ready for trimming — I set each stop 2-5/8″ from the drawer openings. In this photo I have removed the drawer bottom, to make it possible to peek at the front edge:

Both stops installed, ready for trimming.

Once the glue has set on all stops, I will do the fine-tuning with the small #75 bull nose rabbet plane.

— Al Navas

Filed Under: Blog, Design, Education, furniture, Mortise Tagged With: , , , , ,

No clamps required for this assembly

March 24, 2010 By

What else can I add? Thank-you Sandy — your help was invaluable!

This was an assembly of a large desk base with four aprons, three stretchers, and four legs; it was assembled with mortise and tenon joinery, prepared as I showed in an earlier blog entry. You can follow the work on the stand-up desk at this link.

After applying glue to the mortises and the tenons, I applied a little glue to the tapered tips of the pegs and drove them home; the liquid hide glue is a wonderful lubricant, too! No clamps were required to assemble the aprons to the legs (and the stretchers to the legs, etc.):

Drawbore pegs after leveling with block plane.

I used liquid hide glue, as it has a long open time; I felt this was the best way to assure myself of a panic-free, clamp-free, and relaxed time during the glue-up of a very large desk base. After the glue dried, I trimmed the pegs with a flush-cutting saw, and leveled all the pegs using a little block plane. Now the drawer fitting begins in earnest, including stops and alignment strips to ensure straight travel during opening and closing. In the meantime I will be touching up the shellac layers, to blend the areas I planed to the surrounding areas. Finally I will apply a durable varnish, Target Coatings’ Emtech 2000wvx.

I had to use a few clamps to hold the dust cover in place, while the glue dried – here is the dust cover in place:

Dust cover in place.

If you want to eliminate much of the anxiety during large glue-ups, I recommend the use of the drawboring technique to pull together all mortise and tenon joints tight. Even the double-tenon/double-mortise joints I used on the stretchers between the legs went together flawlessly; properly tapered, the pegs snaked their way nicely. This was the double mortise and tenon joint at the end of a stretcher, and made with an FMT Pro:

Dual mortise and tenon joint on stretchers.

I admit this was the joint I was most concerned about prior to the glue-up, due to the spacing (“Will the peg find its way through the second tenon…???”). But I am a happy camper now; well, maybe a happier woodworker, as the drawboring technique worked beautifully.

— Al Navas

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Filed Under: Blog, Drawboring, Joinery, Mortise, Tenon Tagged With: , , , ,

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