Hand Production Techniques - Lesson Two

So today was the first day in the workshop, and it was the halving joint we found out that we was going to be making as our first joint. We were going to be using spare pieces of wood to practise carrying out a variety of joints, and this was the first one.

The basic shape of the Halving Joint is shown in a diagram below:

This idea is to cut out sections on each side of the wood, and then they slot into place. To begin with, I learnt about the tools which wood be required:

. Marking gauge: Has one pin and is used to mark out a single line
. Marking Knife: Used instead out a pencil to add marking and cutting lines to a piece of wood
. Tenon Saw (Cross Cut): Used to cut against the grain
. Chisels: To remove waste and to flatten bottom of joints

Step 1:

Mark out the two joints on the face sides of each piece of wood. Mark out the waste.

Step 2:

Cut down the WASTE SIDE of each line, and one in the middle to make it easier to remove the waste later.

Do this on both pieces.

Step 3:

Using a chisel remove waste, and flatten off the bottom of both sides.

Step 4:

Pair down the sides until you have a perfect fit using a block of wood as a guide, and fit the joint together.

Overall the joint went reasonably well, however there were a few things which I felt need to be improved upon for the future. One problem I found was that my marking knife was not sharp enough, which meant it was hard to see my cut lines. Also I was not holding my finger out towards the blade, resulting in lack of control in the direction of cutting, and some of my cuts were at a slight angle. Finally I used the wrong face on one piece, which didn't matter for this, however would have meant that some aesthetic values and accuracy of the joints good become lost in a final piece of work.