Craftsman Ottoman - Part 5

After cutting the mortises in the legs, it was time to cut the corresponding tenons in the top and bottom rails for the sides of the Ottoman. When I cut the top and bottom rails I kept some of the scrap wood from each rail, about 5" long so that I could use the scrap for test cuts. This way I could 'sneak up' on a tight fit for the mortise and tenon joint. If I raised the blade too far and the tenon was loose I just cut the end off the scrap and try again.

Each tenon is 1 1/4" in length, so I set the fence of the tablesaw at 1 1/8" to account for the thickness of the saw blade. The fence is set back from the start of the blade to prevent the wood from getting jammed between the fence and the blade. I have a Osborne EB3 Miter Gauge that I hold the rail against and then make the shoulder cuts on all four rails.

For the cheek cuts, I used a tenon jig that I created for my unifence. It's a simple jig that rides on top of the fence. The rail is held vertically against the stop and run through the blade to remove the outside of the tenon. The blade is raised up to a hair above the cheek cut and two passes are made for each rail end. As with the shoulder cuts, I first used the scrap stock to get the tenon width correct.

The last power tool step is to remove the edges of the tenon on the bandsaw. The mortises in the legs had rounded edges because I cut them with the router, so the last step needed to be done with hand tools. I used a chisel to round over the edges of the tenons so they fit snugly into the legs. A dry fit shows the ottoman is coming together.

The rails need mortises for the 8 slats in the sides. I decided to cut these with the drill press rather than making up a new jig. I clamped the rails together and marked the center point of the mortises.

Over to the drill press where I used a 1/2" brad point bit to drill out the 8 holes necessary for the slats.