After squaring my pieces up nice and neat, and then laying out the tenons. I used the following process to cut the 14 12 tenons in the project
Step 1: Using a shim the same size as the tenon plus the blade width, I cut the cheeks of the tenon to the lay out line.
Step 2: Then I cut the tenon waste off with my hand saw.
Step 3: After lining up the tenon with the mortises, I cut the ears to fit.
Last week I had to go to Portland for business and I took the opportunity to visit Northwest Timber that is located about an hour south of Portland. First we got a personal tour of the shop and wood storage sheds.
Wow!
Lewis kept opening doors and there was more wood. They carry mostly Pacific NW lumber with some eastern cherry. There are fantastic slaps of walnut and quilted lumber.
In the last few years, they have taken their business to the internet. All their wood is meticulously sorted and labeled after being photographed for sale. Shorts and long abound. I’ve never seen so much super nice wood. I absolutely want to go back! Oh and, btw, I’ve orderd by mail and been extremely happy with what showed up.
Before Lewis and gang got into selling wood they ran a woodworking business. Here are a couple of shots of his equipment. More wood on the web site.
Then we took the scenic tour back home.
Jointer 
Meat Bandsaw converted to woodworking and cutting veneers. 
Bandsaw back 
Stacks of quilted maple. 
Stacks of spalted maple. 
Portlandia-like town names 
Mushrooms 
Lots of Christmas tree farms. 
And beautiful Silver falls.
Cutting mortises is probably my least favorite task to perform. I’ve been trying out a new jig. I found this jig on the Fine Woodworking site. Unfortunately, a subscription is required to access it, but its a subscription I’ve found to be well worth it. You can find the video here (subscription also required).
Basically, its a big piece of squared up maple with a track to run the router fence in.
I’m really happy with how it worked.
I finished my cutting board this weekend and started layout on the bedside table. Lucky for me Marc, Matt and Shannon were talking about build order on the last Woodtalk Online. Its a good one and worth a listen. So I sat down and made my outline/build order from the plans and sketch up file. And … I found a great place to put the outline and parts list.
On to leg layout.
sheworkswood.com 