Learning from Mistakes

After I glued-up the first 4 legs and shaped the first two on the band saw (using Maverick's jig) I realized I had made a mistake.





I had to scrap my first two legs because I started the four main tapers to close to the top of the leg. This was a problem when I ran them across the jointer to make them smooth. Since they were so high the jointer actually cut into the top of the leg which needed to be perfectly flat to connect to the table's apron. It would have been impossible to get a solid connection between apron and leg. For the next two legs I started the taper a few inches lower and didn't have the same problem. Last Thursday I glued some more leg stock and will try to finish shaping the last two legs tomorrow.

I did manage to cut the mortises in the two good legs on Thursday with Maverick's handy mortise cutter. It's very easy to use. Maverick recommended that I make the first two cuts in the opposite ends of the mortise and then work from left to right.