this is what the slip tenon looks like after all the milling and fitting.

Now the fitting begins. Lots of tenons here and each one has to be fitted before glue to insure everything comes out square

Once I'm pretty comfortable with the fit, I'll band clamp the apron and start fitting the stretchers. I cut the stretchers a bit long so I could scribe the taper of the leg and also get the radius fir on the oscillating sander before I mortice the ends for another slip tenon.

Here's where that jig comes in for morticing the stretcher

This in one reason I turned 2 poplar legs, so I could use them as test, in case there would be some error or adjustments to be made

Once I had alignment, now it's time for fitting the stretchers. First a slight 5 degree angle cut, then over to the oscillating spindle sander to do the radius of the leg. I clamped a 1x and a stop block to get positive alignment

ready for a dry fit, and a slip tenon tomorrow

Most of the hard part now, out of the way. This is just a dry fit and once the tenons are all done, then I'll do the glue up

Here's a close up of the joint. I like this design, and the bead really adds a nice detail

Just when I think the hand fitting is over, and its time to fly with ease........ another hand fitting session begins.

You'd think that with a layout and equal sized parts, things would be pretty simple and straight forward for assembly, but nooooooooo. Just 1/16th variation somewhere, just seems to multiply in size somewhere else and pains taking time hand fitting is a necessity.

Making the stretcher slip tenon is done in the same manor and with the same jig. I just added filler pieces to close the opening down.

Once the mortice is made, I ripped some tenon stock and cut it to size

The problem I found was...... if the stretcher isn't placed "exactly" where it needs to go, and the radius isn't "exactly" right, there will be a slight gap in the joint! Man.....each piece needs to be placed and move on to the other till all pieces are milled, then band clamp to see there are any ends that need retouching on the spindle sander. Much to my surprise, many had to be re- fitted.

There is also a design element to the turning foot and this is a prototype of the design

Wrestling with "how" had me try several set ups, and sometimes jigs are done on the spot for certain applications. Some are pretty and some..... well........pretty crude, but works! What I ended up doing was fastening a notched board to serve as a cradle to a shelf for the top. I set it out enough to create the angle needed. The problem with using the oscillating spindle sander is that it has two movements. While spinning, the spindle also has an up an down movement, so there was a height factor in placing the spindle. Clamping some stock and adjusting, I finally came out with a constant set up to give me repeatability. Ha ha ha..... not pretty at all, but works great! The angle of the shot makes it tough to distinguish the sander, but if you look closely you'll see it in front of the band saw.

Now to notch out for the box seat that will contain the box for the art work display.

part 3