Now that we have pins, we can dry fit the whole thing before we take the drastic and irreversible step of mixing up some epoxy. So that’s what this looked like:
Looks pretty good! assembled like this, I can mark out the locations of the wedge slots and trim off any over long pins before we commit things to epoxy land.
Now, the slots, technically through mortises, have been located, I rotate their location around the pin so the wedge will work across the grain for maximum strength. I could set up the hollow chisel mortiser. I do have a 1/4″ bit, though I’ve never used it, so it would need cleaning up and sharpening (from the factory they are crap). But that seems like overkill. The way I’ve done it before was with a router. As much as I dislike the homicidal beasts, that’s probably the best way to go.
Reynard has this clever little fixture to hold the in still without using a clamp. But it’s been long enough since I’ve seen it that I can’t recall how to make it. I have a special 4′ long router vise, but the pins are 7″ long so that’s definitely overkill and it would require clearing off the bench, that’s not going to happen either, there just isn’t enough horizontal space.
My twin screw dovetailing vise (aka Moxon Vise) looks like a good option; it doesn’t take up much bench space. The photo below shows the setup. I used a bit of scrap slightly narrower than the pin to bridge the screws and raise the pin to the proper height, flush with the jaws of the vise.
With the locations marked, it was time to do battle. Cutting through that much material with a 1/4″ bit took 4 or 5 passes and it all went fairly quickly. It probably took me longer to clean up the vaporized wood dust than to create it.
Now the pins are done, whew. I already had some 1/4″ stock sorted out for wedges. I don’t know what species it is exactly, some anonymous tropical hardwood that’s really hard, but a little splintery. And if you don’t get those splinters out in a hurry, you’ll be sorry.
We’re closing in on it! The last pieces are the panels. Using the dry fit to pull measurements, I can cut those to fit.
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