Tréteau XI

The next stage in the 19th Century French sawhorse build is to rough cut the half-laps for the braces. Previous installments in this thread are indexed in the 'Blog Archive' to the right of the page, so readers new to this blog might want to have a gander over there first.

I choose here not to take the saw to the line. My reasoning is that the half-lap does cut halfway into the timber, and there may be growth or drying stresses released by the cut. It occured to me that the piece could un-bow slightly causing the width of the lap to open up a bit, which would potentially spoil the fit a bit. So, my plan is to rough cut the half-laps, let the material rest a couple of days, and then trim the half-laps to dimension with high accuracy using a router and jig. With the router i can get repeatable and accurate results, so it is my preference to use it for the final cuts anyhow. After the lap trenches are done, then I will complete the lap joint mitered abutments, the cuts for which I intend to do with a chisel and paring block. I will need to make 6 different blocks to accomplish that, I do believe.

So, today some photos of the sawing and chop out. First I started with the interior x-braces, three saw kerfs per lap:


Then I chopped the waste out using a 10mm bench chisel and a small plane hammer:


Setting those aside, I then proceeded with the short side Croix de Saint André pieces:


What you can see in the picture are the new and exciting 'sawing socks' ® - part of the newly introduced Sawing for Teens line of fashionable wear. I'm sure most of you have seen the infomercials by now with Britney Spears, and what with Christmas just around the corner a pair of sawing socks ® would make a fine gift for the young aspiring woodworker in the family.

:^) Happy holidays everybody!

More ch-ch-ch-choppin';


And then bump up a chisel size for a quick clean out at the bottom:


Long side braces, rough-cut laps now done:


After the chips had flown, here is my tidy pile of rough-lapped pieces, the interior x-braces at right, the long side braces in middle, and the Croix de Saint André pieces to the left:


I'll let those bits hang out in the closet for a while, to move and groove as they see fit (probably not too much as the wood didn't seem to move appreciably while I cut it), and in the meantime I will return to the work on the battari shōgi and that delightful (?) Wenge awaiting some cutting work.

Thanks for dropping by today. --> Go to post XII