Mortised Feet

This weekend, I mortised all 8 feet and ran them through a bit of an assembly line to make each one a close copy of the template. Each foot now contains a mortise/socket for the desk side to slip into, and has the basic shape.  I am going to clip the top of the heel yet after I have gotten all the mortises to fit the tenon of the side.

The two pieces of wood glued together were sent through the table saw twice to reduce the width from 1 and 1/2 inches to a strong 1 and 1/8 inches.  I removed the saw marks with a hand plane to get a very nice finished look and feel.  I still marvel at the pleasure of using a sharp plane.  Otherwise, a bit of sanding and edge rounding is about all that is left for the feet.

I don’t believe that I have ever made multiple duplicates of anything before other than a drawer or flat shelf.  So, so this has been an interesting process.  The key to making multiples is to make all the cuts at the same time.  Each foot needs all of the same cuts.  In the past I made my measurements and cuts without thinking much about it.  In this case, I force myself to stop and think a little bit longer about getting the exact same result every time.

Temporary Foot Clamp

I made a foot template from MDF, and when it came time to route out the bottom of the actual feet, I was more than a little nervous.  I had cut one extra foot for experiments and setups, and after clamping it to my jig and making a test run, I got more nervous.  Since the feet are only 2 inches tall, and 1 and 1/8 inches deep, I had trouble keeping the router square on top when I ran that long pattern bit over the top.  In fact, I got a couple of nasty tipping bites in the wood that made me stop and rethink what I was doing.

As you can see from the above picture, I simply used a lot of clamps to clamp everything down to my workbench.  I decided to use the test foot as part of the jig.  Clamping it off to the right just a bit gave my router a stable base to sit upon, and the real feet came out looking very nice when I routed out the inset in the bottom of each one.

Mortising Template

The same was true for the mortise/socket that is in the top of each foot.  I wanted them to be the same for each foot, and centered in the middle of the foot.  So, I took time to make a mortising template.  The top is 1/8 inch plywood glued to 3/4 inch material on the bottom side.  The gap was centered over a 1 inch hole that left 1/8 inch on each side, and the length would create a 5 inch opening.  A piece of wood at the end served as a stop and allowed me to slip the foot into the jig and slide it until it hit the stop.

I clamped the pieces into the vise then, and the side pieces under the jig squeezed in on the foot until it was all tight and secure.  I then used a plunge router and a 3/8 spiral bit to hog out the mortise.

It took time to make the jig, but I did it during the Nebraska game, and let it dry during play.  Then I ran in during breaks and glued more pieces together.  It is probably a wonder that it fit with all those distractions!  I will keep the jig.  I might be able to use it again on another project.