Good Morning Friends,

The other post that I started was getting a little bit long so I am starting another post in regard to Arts and Crafts furniture compared to conventional store bought furniture.

 

I was pleasingly surprised that I received a furniture request from Sydney Australia for three book cases in the Arts and Crafts style and it appears that I might get the commission.

 

Now for two differences in connecting joints in conventional furniture vs Arts and Crafts pieces.

Conventional furniture joints may be made with the use of dowels, pocket hole joinery while A&C pieces may have trough tenons and pegged so the joint will remain intact over the years, with or without glue.

Here following is a sample of a through tenon;

 

This method is not a hard joint to make and will out last a conventional joint for years to come. Note the peg that will allow the joint to remain solid for many years and is strong enough to withstand hard use over the years.

 

Hello Ralph,

Congratulations on the possible commission.  How do you get customers so far away?  Shipping has got to be pretty expensive.

Thanks for the additional information.  I have done some mortis and tenon joints in the past but not very often.

I would have responded sooner but we were away for a spell.

Adam

Hello Adam,

I have been very fortunate for my furniture has now been recognised from sea shore to sea shore and border to border and mostly by word of mouth.

The lady in Australia wanted three book cases with glass inserted doors and there were supposed to have 12 panes in each door. However the shipping company she was dealing with refused to ship to her ( unknown reason ) on my part so I lost that sale. But I stay very busy making A&C pieces and now I am making them on speculation that folks will buy them directly out of my show room. Most all of my business comes by word of mouth.

I am currently working on a mission style coffee table out of quarter sawn white oak with plenty od ray in the table top. I will post it when completed.

Ralph,

What is your tool of choice for making the mortis and tenon joint?  When I made them I used a router for the mortis and the table saw for the tenons. 

Adam

Hi Adam,

When working on conventional pieces I mostly do as you do however with Arts and Crafts Furniture I try to use the old style hand cut mortises as well as sawing the tenons with a good back saw. Therefore the piece can truly be called "Hand Crafted," When making true A&C pieces there are no short cuts but, this is only me and my style, I hold nothing against those who use their different tools for making the mortises and tenons for no matter how it is done as long as it reaches a common goal and appearance. My pieces however are high dollar pricing but not as much as some retailers.

I brand, autograph and date each piece I make.

On those pegged joints, do you "draw-bore" them for a tighter fit?     As for my little shop, I hand chop the mortises, and saw the tenons with the table saw, using a series of nibble cuts.    I don't have a proper vise to handsaw the tenons, so the old Frankensaw gets the work.

  Perhaps a little lesson on what draw boring means?

Hi Steve,

I don't recall the term draw boring, how about a little tutorial so all can benefit.

It's been in.   Put a little story in today.  Basically, one uses an off-set hole in the tenon to "draw" the joint tight.  

Ralph Allen Jones said:

Hi Steve,

I don't recall the term draw boring, how about a little tutorial so all can benefit.

Steve,

Now I understand what you are talking about and this is not called a peg as through peg but instead a wedge piece that is used to draw the sperader tight against the leg or rail on the bottom of the rail reaching from leg to leg.

As seen in the following picture;

 

Ralph,

I think that making your furniture old school is wonderful.  I would like to get into using more hand tools on some projects.  My great grandfather was a carpenter and I have his tool box which is full of old hand planes.  Hollows and rounds along with some other profile planes.  I want to sharpen them up for some use someday.

I appriciate the info on the arts and crafts furniture methods.

Adam

Good Morning Adam,

Over the years I have found and admired some of the planes that folks have owned but never had the chance to buy any with the various profiles you mentioned and I envy you for having them. I own my grand father's jack plane as well as his old block plane and I keep them sharp with each and every time I use them before I put them away for it is easyier than waiting till they are dull.

To sharpen the curved profiles blades do as I do with my gouges in my chisels by gluing four grits of Emory cloth on a piece of hardboard (masonite) and start sharpening them with 100 grit Emory and as you pull the bevel toward you rotate the tool as you pull it across the emory. Then next go to 150 grit in the same manner, then on to 180 grit and then 220 grit keeping in mind to use a round file to remove the burr on the inside of the curve by only pushing the file forward toward the end of what you have just sharpened.

Then is you have a strop with jeweler's rouge on it you can get the tip scary sharp. Do not test the sharpness with your thumb unless you have enough band aids to cover the cut.

Good Morning Ralph,

Thanks for the info on sharpening.  There are a lot of different ways to keep things sharp.

Adam