Wood Furniture Design: Practice Joints

Dear Internet,

Yesterday Jake asked if the Futon would be ready by next week for people to come over and have movie nights. I laughed.

Then I reexamined. I have no other immediate projects, I have the tools I need, so why not? I set a goal of Thursday to have this done. I have other projects I need to get to.

I broke out the old Ryobi tablesaw. I am starting to realize Ryobi is a Latin word meaning "cheap, partially working version of a tool" as my Ryobi band saw, drill press, and table saw all frequently cause me accuracy problems. Yeah, I can cut, drill, and rip on them, but I just can't do it well. My brand loyalty, for most tools goes to DeWalt.



I started by ripping some 2x4s into smaller strips for my Futon's side frames, and then made the major cuts into the front and back legs. But now I had an issue- my plan for these frames involves some complex joints, and I didn't want to use my finished piece on a first go. It was time to make some practice joints.

I started with the one where the front leg meets the floor. At this point, one of the side pieces also meets the front leg. I chose a complex tongue and groove joint for this. Since I'm trying to avoid using screws I had to go all "New Yankee Workshop" on it and break out the chisels again. I am starting to get a feel for how to do smooth work, but my chiseling still comes out ragged. Still, it appears better every time. Plus if I hide the rough parts under the foot no one will see:



Then I proceeded with a few more joints; the top of the front legs and the complicated 135 degree bend, and I had my examples for all the new joints in the frame. Rough, ragged, gapped examples.



However, they are now close enough that I can model my final work after them. This is the next step- lining up, tracing, and making them part of the final item.




Hopefully by this time next week I will be sitting on my first piece of finish quality woodwork.