I've decided to get my handy work skill from from zero to passable.
With my engineering background I over-engineered a bookcase so as to only need screws, but be strong and not wobble, etc. The only real wood working skill was cutting timber to length and smoothing the ends.
Now I want to join using tenon and mortise. Using only a tenon saw and chisels as I do not have any cash for tools. I've got the hang of cutting the tenon and using a chisel to trim to size and shape. But I'm less succesful with the mortise.
The main problem seems to be that I want to cut the mortise across the grain of the wood. Every site I read suggests a chisel equal to the width of the mortise, chiselling out along the length of the mortise. When the mortise is with the grain this seems to work. But when it is across the grain it splinters horribly.
Am I right that I
have to chisel with the grain? And so have to chisel small pieces across to the mortise, slowly making it longer? Very slowly. And it seems near impossible (for me) to keep the sides of the mortise straight enough for a snug fit.
Or is chiselling a mortise across the grain in a plank of wood just a bad idea anyway?
Wood laying flat with location of mortise:
Code:
+--------------------+
| .-. |
| Grain | | |
| ----> | | |
| '-' |
+--------------------+
The grain goes along the length of the wood. And the mortise should not go all the way through the wood. (About 10mm deep in 19mm thick wood?)
I need to acheive the results with just basic chisels and a very basic work bench kindly donated by a friend. I can't afford a router, etc. And have no real woodworking experience.
Any advice on how to go about it, what to avoid, tops&tricks that could help, etc
Cheers,
Mat.