Morton

Michael Scott Morton has been designing and building furniture for over ten years. Located in Harvard, MA, he builds custom furniture one piece at a time.

Morton’s Shop: Buttons to Attach the Top

Dec 182012
 

I like to make “buttons” to attach a floating top to the base of my tables.  The button slips into slots in the legs (or aprons on other tables) and then screws to the underside of the top.  As long as the slot is wider than the button, these allow for the top’s movement relative to the base.

The slots in the legs can be made by hand, with a mortise machine or as I recently discovered: a Festool Domino.  Fast and Easy.

The Festool Domino cut the slots in the leg.

The Festool Domino cut the slots in the leg.

I found a long piece of short-grain wood.  Two passes on the table saw created the button shape.  I could then cut it apart into the 10 final buttons on the chopsaw.

Two passes on the table saw to cut the button shape.

Two passes on the table saw to cut the button shape.

The buttons ended up a little small: they were loose in the slots, to various degrees.  So I custom fit each one to its slot by adding a piece of veneer if necessary (some took 0, 1 or 2 pieces).

Each button was final-fit into its slot by adding veneer if necessary.

Each button was final-fit into its slot by adding veneer if necessary.

I want a nice tight fit in the slot and also to have the button just about flush (slightly under) the top of the leg.  This helps pull the top down flush to the leg.

I went for a nice tight fit, but can still wiggle in and out.

I went for a nice tight fit, but can still wiggle in and out.

Morton’s Shop: Pegging the M+T

Dec 132012
 

I decided to peg my mortise and tenons that attach the leg top and bottom to the main section.  These joints can get a lot of stress if someone leans on the table.  In reality, the M+T is plenty strong – they are big with lots of glue surface, but I always like to add mechanical joints if I can.

Each tenon (of the twin tenons) gets two 1/2″ pegs. I first drill through the inside of the leg mortise.

Drilling 1/2" holes in a mortise to peg the tenon.

Drilling 1/2" holes in a mortise to peg the tenon.

Mortise drilled with 1/2" holes for pegs.

Mortise drilled with 1/2" holes for pegs.

I then insert the tenons into the mortise and mark the center with the same 1/2″ forstner bit.

I use the same forstner bit to mark the hole location in the tenon.

I use the same forstner bit to mark the hole location in the tenon.

The tenon gets offset holes (about 1/16″) to pull the joint nice and tight.  The outside of each set of pegs has an elongated peg hole to allow for expansion and contraction of the leg.

Drilling the 1/2" peg holes in the tenon.

Drilling the 1/2" peg holes in the tenon.

Morton’s Shop: Matching Tenons

Dec 062012
 

Now that the mortises are complete, time to make matching tenons.  There are many ways to create tenons and I chose a combination of the bandsaw, table saw and chisels.

I use the bandsaw to cut the tenon”s width, leaving quite a bit of room in the mortise (about 1/2″) to allow for expansion.  Recall the leg piece is almost 2″ wide crotch walnut!

Cutting a tenon's width on the bandsaw

Cutting a tenon’s width on the bandsaw

A dado stack in the table saw dials in the tenon thickness to match the mortise.  I first take off material from the very tip to ensure a snug fit, and then do the rest of the tenon.

Tenons on a table saw

Tenons on a table saw

Finally a little trimming with a chisel to make it easy to start the tenon into the mortise.

Chisel the end of the tenon

Chisel the end of the tenon

Morton’s Shop: Leg Header + Footer

Nov 292012
 

The leg design has what I call the “main section” which is curved crotch walnut and then a wider header and footer to help support the width of the table. These two pieces are attached with pegged mortise and tenons.

I lay out the mortise location using a pencil and a handy Woodpeckers square. I always use X’s to clearly mark the waste.

Layout mortise location with a pencil and mark the waste.

Lay out mortise location with a pencil and mark the waste.

A mortise machine makes quick work. I use the pencil as reference, but it doesn’t have to be perfect. I’ll run all the pieces at the same time so they are consistent.

A mortise machine makes quick work of mortises

A mortise machine makes quick work of mortises

I run the first wall of mortises on all the pieces.

First wall of the wide mortise.

First wall of the wide mortise.

Unfortunately these mortises are wider than my widest mortise chisel, so I have to run another set for the other outer wall. This leaves a small piece in the middle which simply pops out.

The second wall of the mortise

The second wall of the mortise

Next up: The matching tenons.

Morton’s Shop: Top of the Stretcher Tenon

Nov 272012
 

To finish up the tenon on the stretcher, I create a small flat spot for the wedge to fit.  I simply mark the location with a gauge and use a sharp chisel to remove the waste.

I marked and created a "flat stop" for the edge to slip in onto the stretcher

I marked and created a "flat stop" for the edge to slip in onto the stretcher

I check for square off the tenon as I go. It’s not critical how far down I go, I just want it to be flat and square – I can always enlarge the opening for the wedge to fit.

Checking for square

Checking for square

Finally I’m ready to test the fit of the legs and stretcher! (This image skips ahead slightly as I’ve yet to show the mortise+tenon for the footer/header on the leg).

The bast is dry fit with wedges inserted

The bast is dry fit with wedges inserted

Morton’s Shop: Angled end to the Mortise

Nov 222012
 

The blind mortise in the leg has angled ends on the top and bottom that create a dovetail-looking mortise. The tenon has a matching angle on the bottom (half a dovetail tail), so it slips into the mortise then lowers down into the matching mortise angle. The picture below is a cross section at the location of the mortise.

Angled mortise for a dovetail wedge fit

Angled mortise for a dovetail wedge fit

To create this, I made an auxiliary jig for my router to run on which references off the mortise jig already used. This jig angles the router a little so that the straight bit removes material at the bottom of the mortise at the correct angle.

The router runs at an angle for the bit to remove waste at the bottom of the mortise

The router runs at an angle for the bit to remove waste at the bottom of the mortise

This jig has plywood pieces cut at an angle and set apart the distance of the mortise.

The reason I took the time to make this jig rather than doing by hand is that I have four to make (top and bottom of both legs). The top mortise pokes through the leg (for the wedge) and this jig helped create a consistent opening (that only needed a little handwork). [Sorry for the bad photo, light was hard to get down into the mortise]

Angled top to the mortise, poking through the other side of the leg

Angled top to the mortise, poking through the other side of the leg

Morton’s Shop: Veritas Gent’s Saws

Nov 202012
 

I invited Steve Branam from Close Grain to try out a couple of new Gent’s Saws from Veritas. He put them through the paces for a few weeks in his shop and then stopped by to give me his thoughts.  We had a lot of fun chatting about the saws and I got some good tips from Steve on sawing techniques.

Steve demonstrates the crosscut saw by extending his forefinger down the handle to help guide the cut.

Veritas Crosscut Saw

Veritas Crosscut Saw

Practice sawing by drawing multiple vertical lines and then saw down each one. Just a dozen or so quick cuts will begin to get you straight results!

Veritas Rip Saw

Sawing lines using the Veritas Rip Saw

Thanks to Steve for stopping by and helping me check out these saws. Definitely check out Steve’s Blog – it’s full of great handtool posts.

Morton and Steve

Morton and Steve