How to Make Letter-Shaped Wood Joints
- 1). Determine what letters you are going to need. For a simple four-sided table with two joints exposed to frontal view, it might be simply the first and last initials of the person you are building it for. The larger the joints, the simpler they will be to carve, so the height of the tenon should be no less than 2 inches.
- 2). Draw the letters out on a sheet of cardboard to use as a template and cut them out.
- 3). Trace the shapes of the letters, using the templates, on the end-grain of the pieces of wood you are cutting the tenons in.
- 4). Cut the tenons along the lines you traced using a combination of the dovetail saw, chisels and knife. It is usually best to do a rough cut first, and refine the shape with progressively smaller chisels. For letters like "A," "B" and "D" that have cutouts, only cut along the outer outline of the letter, leaving the cutout section uncut, since there is no practical way to cut mortises for the cutouts.
- 5). Carve hollows in the tenon for letters with cutouts using chisels for straight sections and gouges for curves. A depth of 1/4 inch will create sufficient contrast to make the letter stand out.
- 6). Cut out the mortises once the tenons are completed by placing the end of the tenon against the piece in which the mortise is to be cut and tracing around the outside edge of the tenon, using a jigsaw or band saw to cut away the waste. Clean up any ragged edges with the knife.
- 7). Dry fit the joint together and make adjustments, if necessary.
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