Green & Green Settee Part XI

Time to glue up the sides.  Here I'm preparing the tenons for wedges.

Now, I like to drill a small hole at the base of the saw kerf.  Not sure if it works, but it does seem to reduce the risk of splitting.

Glue-up...

Next glue the arms on and then drill a hole into the back of the post to secure the arm with a #12 wood screw.

The screw hole will later be covered by a cleat upon which the upholstery back will rest.  While I have the glue out, I'll glue the cleats onto the side rails (upon which the seat will rest).

 

Now I need to smooth the front and back transitions where the arms meet the front legs.  I left the arm slightly thick in both the front and back for this purpose.  For the back transition, I tried a couple techniques with the Blacker House arm chair - shoulder plane, carving gouge, small scraper, etc.  I found that a straight chisel works best followed by a file and sand paper.  Works very well.

Now its time for the ebony splines.  I use a bandsaw to cut the profile and rough cut the thickness.  Then I use a small Jet 10-20 drum sander for final thickness (a wonderful machine, I must say).

 
IF I WERE SMART, I WOULD CALL IT A GO AND GLUE UP NOW!  Well, in an attempt to be clever I rough cut the splines thinking that this would save work later.  Wow, was this a mistake!!!

After gluing up the first spline (which went just fine), the second spline decided to split - which went all the way into the groove.  Here I'm frantically trying to glue the split back together, swearing in the meantime.  I believe those swear words are still dangling in space somewhere above my fluorescent lights.

Of course this did not work.  I tried to perform a local repair, but to no avail.  I had to quit and then take another full day off from the shop after this incident.  I then decided to take a few more days off to visit my grandparents.  Time is the best healer.

A few days later, I went into the shop calm but resigned to the fact that I would have to 1)  chop the entire groove to remove the old ebony, 2) expand the groove to renew the edge, 3) and then do the same on the other spline on the other arm so they would be consistent.  This would have to be done by hand as now, with the sides glued up, I could not use the router table.  On the Blacker House arm chair I cut the groove by hand to begin with, so I knew that this is a very feasible task.  Furthermore, at this point I definitely trust my hand tools over using the router hand held to re-cut the groove.


However, on a whim, I decided to see if I could chop out that top spline without mucking up the side walls.  I didn't think this would be possible.  The glue bond would prevent this.  However, with patience this worked!   I use a 3/16" chisel to chop away the ebony center.  With some testing, I was able to find a spot or two on both sides where the ebony chipped away from the side wall just enough to act as a reference edge upon which I could rest my chisel.  With a reference edge, I was able to carefully (and slowly) pare away the remaining ebony from the side walls.  I think the ebony, being very brittle (which caused the split in the first place), allowed me to do this.  For most other woods this probably would not work.

Now, there is still some yellow glue residue in the groove.  I'm a member of the Siskiyou Woodcraft Guild.  We have some very fine furniture makers in the guild with a lot more experience than myself.  I talked to one and he said that as long as I rough up the surface of the side walls the yellow glue will stick to itself.  Since this is a non-stressed joint I'm totally find with this answer.  So, I use a small file and carefully file the side walls, beginning just below the top and only pushing down.  I do not want to damage the top!

Below is another ebony spline fitted and glued into the groove.  Notice that I left copious amount of wood this time!

 

All in all, this mistake set me back almost a week.  However, the project is once more moving forward and not backwards.   I use a coping saw to cut away most of the extra wood.  Then I use a dremel with a course sanding drum to level the spline.  This works very well and fast. 

How proud should the ebony be above the surface?  Obviously, it should be the thickness of a "CharlieCard"...

When I went to North Bennet Street School a couple years ago we used the CharlieCard frequently as a thickness gauge.  I still have a couple.  The CharlieCard is the MBTA train ticket.  Who needs stinkin' rulers anyway!

I'll spare you the dreadful details of sanding, only so say that I take it up to 320 and round it over so it feels good to the hand.  Later I'll swipe it with 600 and then buff it out for a nice shine.