Tréteau IX

Working on the top beam mortising, etc., continued. This project, long in germination and drawing, is a 19th century French Sawhorse design by Louis Mazerolle, and serves as a vehicle for hip roof carpentry study. For previous installments please look to the archive or label index to the right of the page.

Here’s the third mortise, this one for a face aplomb leg tenon:

Three down, five to go.

Here’s the other one of those, top-side view, completing the rough mortising for the legs:

And a look at the entry side for that mortise:

That close up tells me I could still hack a bit more material out of the hole. 4 down, 4 to go.

Before I start on the mortises for the long-side braces, I decided to trim the ends of the beam to the line – here’s the process at one end:

It came out okay considering the saw is a bit dull and has a couple of wayward teeth. It’s time to replace that one, though I am managing to milk a little more use out of it.

All in all, the Canarywood seems pretty decent to work so far, though it seems a little vulnerable to chipping, like the Bloodwood I did a little work with recently. I have to be cautious around the edges of the mortise with paring passes slicing out from the opening. It saws cleanly, and chopping/paring is not too bad at all. We’ll see how it planes soon enough.

Next installment I’ll tackle the long side brace mortises, the 4 remaining holes to be dug into the beam.

Thanks for visiting today. –> Go to part X