-Through Tenons; Mortise failure/solution
It was not until I went to cut my mortises that I realized I should have laid these out and cut them before I cut my board into an oval, with no straight edges to register a cut. To make matters worse, the mortises were angled at 12 degrees to receive the headboard and footboard.
Attempt at chiseling out the mortise
It was my intention to use a chisel out the mortises. I started on one and failed. In hindsight, I am not sure what I was thinking. It took me forever and I ended up with blow out on the bottom despite my best efforts. Ugh.
The result of my chiseling = Blow out on bottom side
Plan B: Drill holes for my saw
I then went to plan B. I drilled out holes and rough cut the mortises with my skill saw. This seem to do the trick, at least at this point of the process. I then went in with my rasps and snuck up to my layout pencil line. At least I thought I did, there were places that I ended up over compensating as I was trying to dry fit the pieces.
Perhaps overkill: I used my jig saw to cut the mortises.
As my hand tool skills have refined since, I believe I would now go in with a small saw, perhaps a keyhole saw. But my Jig saw certainly kept me moving.
**If you’re reading this and nodding your head (up or down), I’d love to hear your feedback on how you would approach some of the tasks I struggled with. As with all things woodworking there are infinite ways to skin a cat, and we can all learn by sharing our experiences.
Knot The Right Epoxy Fill—
I love me knot….
I am a huge fan of knotty pine, and I am always looking to see how I can incorporate the knots into my layout. I have not, however dealt with the knots properly, until now, well almost.
How beautiful is this–Knot!
(I have more knot knot jokes, but I will save them for another post.)
Ugh. Nice Job, Genius.
The 1st ‘epoxy’ I purchased was from the local hardware store. It was a grey paste. I am not sure what I was thinking as I applied it. Did I really think this was going to sand out and look anything different than a cement patch? And yet I proceeded.
Obviously I was not happy with the outcome. I moved on, but I tried another epoxy, this time a clear product (makes sense, huh!).
Better luck, but I still wasn’t thrilled with how it sanded out. I need to try West Systems Epoxy and spend a couple hours experimenting with it.
Thanks for stoping by the shop. I’d love to hear your comments and thoughts on how you might have approached things differently!
The Lighthearted Woodworker 
Christopher,
You may have lost your physical reference surfaces when you cut the oval shape, but you still have the lamination lines to go by (assuming they are parallel). To lay out the mortises some sort of template referencing the lamination lines could have helped. I think you did well to cut the mortises to rough size with the jigsaw. That way, you ensured your 12-degree angle and would have minimized tear-out. Cut close, use rasps and files or chisels to get the rest of the way.
I like that second knot. How did you remove the grey epoxy? How long did you wait before you sanded the clear QuickCure epoxy?
Chris
It’s one of the best hobbies on earth. I just wish it was a little easier!