I would love to have the time to work on these chevys with hand tools without the noise, dust, and sharp whirly things but I’m on a mission here and time is of the essence. In that light, this morning started out (after cleaning up the glue-ups) with dadoing the recesses in the columns to match those made in the face plates yesterday. I am pleased to say I can still count to ten without using any toes.

Next I laid out the mortises in the bases and moved on to the mortiser (sorry, no photo). In order to organize the process I first made sure that all bases were the same width and then cut the mortises with the same fence settings, first with one side and then the other against the fence. This meant that the remaining centre piece was the same width in each piece, I then set the dado for that width and cut the space between the tenons in one pass.

I finished them up with passes on all four sides cut with the column flat on the table saw.

I want these really tight because I will have to knock them down for storage (or possibly shipping). I’m hoping to be able to fit a few of the joints tight and fasten them with bolts. To that end I machined them snug and fitted with a sharp chisel.

It seems that I have accomplished the tight fits as these needed to be assembled with the assistance of my four pound pin maul. They are (right to left) a tall (23"-25"), two mediums 21 1/2"-23 1/2", and a short (20-23"). This should allow me to fit most students up with a comfortable size.

In order to be ready to go tomorrow I then got out the parts necessary for the glue-ups of the arms, carriage posts, and carriage logs. (my terms)

….. and glued them up

I now have eight hours in them and have used four and a half ten foot 2×6′s and two ten foot 2×8′s.

They should take on chevy looking shapes tomorrow.

Thanks for looking in.

Paul