orepass

The coffee table has three mortises in each leg and and eight more supporting the shelf. Chopping mortises by hand is like running. The first steps are rife with anticipation, the next come with labored breath, but with training and patience a rhythm is developed that helps clear the mind and ends in an intense focus. It’s probably a little too far out on the limb to describe it has “mortise chopper’s high” but it is a very calming work.

Ensuring crisp edges especially where a through mortise is chopped takes practice. Helping a long the way is this little guide that Paul Sellers introduced me to a month ago. It is simply two pieces of wood and a small piece of counter top that can be used to guide the chisel along one edge. Making two of them one 3/8″ and the other 1/2″, they can be placed adjacent to the mortise and as long as I register the chisel against it, I will maintain a very nice edge.