Perch Stool Part 2: Legging Up
I Laugh in the Face of Tapered Compound Angled Mortises
The process of boring the tapered mortises for the legs is a lot simpler once you just do it. You will hear lots of talk about rake and splay angles and resultant angles and sight lines. Some internet searching will yield any number of results on how to bore the angles using mirrors and lasers and by standing on one leg after 3PM on a Tuesday. The way I was taught during my first Windsor chair was much less angles and precision, and mostly eyeball and feeling my way through it. Even today with so much great instruction on the subject that didn’t exist 10 years ago I still find Windsor construction to be a very organic and forgiving style of construction.
I say all of this to urge you to suspend the questions for a minute and just bore some holes. Using the seat pattern that Peter Galbert so helpfully provided we know the location of the sight lines, the location of the holes, and the resultant angles. So grab a bevel gauge and an auger bit and go to it. Remember that the reamer can correct a lot of disparity that may result while you bore your holes.
Reaming Tip Not Covered in the Video
I neglected to talk about this in the video and frankly I got lucky when my workbench intervened and stopped my reamer from going any deeper. Remember that while you are reaming that you do want to maintain the diameter of the hole on top of the seat. The tenons have been rounded down to a minimum diameter of 1/2″but if you keep pushing the reamer will widen the hole all the way through and you will have to drive your legs in so far that you will shorten the legs unnecessarily. So keep an eye on the depth of the reamer and if appropriate but a stop block underneath your seat to ensure you don’t widen the holes on the top of the seat too much.
Next Live Broadcast
6 PM on Saturday 11/4/17
I carve the seat so that it delicately cradles my posterior
