Hand Hand woodworking

Making a Throughout this series, we have been slowly adding to your woodworking skills and at the Creating same time, adding the necessary to your collection. You may be pleased to hear that your toolbox already has all the tools necessary to make this joint. The skills and techniques learned in the previous Bridle joints issues are readily transferable to making a bridle joint; in fact you will see that they are the same Michael T Collins takes skills with some new techniques added to the mix. us through creating the he number of ways that you can join two pieces Preparation The tools needed for making a bridle joint corner bridle joint for a T of together is Start with your wood cut, squared nothing short of staggering, and 1and planed to size, leaving each door and the ‘T’ bridle the plethora of names for each piece 1-2mm longer than required set mid-way in a rail method can be mind numbing. for waste. My stock is 22 × 63mm In the last issue, we looked at cherry (Prunus serotina). Mark the creating half-lap joints but here face side and face edge on all pieces we’ll look at making bridle joints. – you can also use an elongated This joint is most likely named cabinetmaker’s triangle; this will after a horse’s bridle because its help keep the parts orientated. appearance replicates the way a bridle fits into the horse’s mouth. The mortise location is simply Just like a traditional mortise 2the width of the rail plus 1mm for and tenon, in a bridle joint a tenon waste. You do not need to measure – is cut on the end of the rail and just use the rail, pencil and try a mortise is cut into the stile to to mark the location of the mortise. 1 2 accept the tenon. The fundamental I always use a pencil to mark mortises. difference is that the mortise fully Again, leave an extra 1mm or so at the extends through and out the top end for waste. of the stile – it is sometimes called a slip tenon. The photo Set the mortise using the here shows a well-worn bridle 3width of your – in my case joint in a bathroom cabinet. 10mm. The size is also dependent on Bridle joints can be used the width of the stock – a good rule is anywhere you might use half-lap that the tenons should be greater than or joints. They a third, but less than half the width of are very strong and a good choice the stock. for thin stock, especially where a would not offer The tenon location is marked using strength and a mortise and tenon 4the width of the stile. Gang the rails would be too small. I have even together and using the stile, 3 4 seen double bridle joints used in and a , scribe the location the construction of chairs, joining on all sides, but don’t forget to add arm and leg in one flowing piece. 1mm for waste. Adjust the mortise As a general rule, a bridle joint can gauge so that the tenon is in the centre Which came first – the be used in place of a lap joint, but of the rail. Scribe the tenon, from the mortise or the tenon?

a lap joint should not be used in PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL T COLLINS face side. place of a bridle joint. If all your joinery is perfect, then Michael T Collins As with the half-lap joint, there With the same mortise gauge it will make no difference whether British-born Michael has are many variations in the bridle 5setting you used to mark the tenon, you cut the mortise or the tenon been working with wood joint. In this article, I will take you mark the mortise on both edge and first. However, woodworking is not off and on for 40 years. through the steps of creating the end grain from the face side. If you an exact science and perfection He moved to New York corner bridle joint for a door and look closely at the bathroom cabinet is a rare animal. So chopping in 1996 and over the years, has made the ‘T’ bridle set mid-way in a rail. joint on page 22, you will see that it the mortise first has several bespoke furniture, including clocks, is slightly offset towards the door’s advantages: work, Adams fireplaces, book outside, illustrating that you should cases and reproduction furniture. always mark from the face side. By a) They are easier to layout Web: www.sawdustandwoodchips.com doing this, you are almost guaranteed b) It is easier to make a tenon fit Twitter: @sawdustandwood to produce a joint that is flush. This is a mortise, than vice versa. another ‘secret’ of woodworking. ➤ 5 Bridle joint on an old medicine cabinet

22 www.woodworkersinstitute.com Woodworking Crafts issue 04 23 Hand woodworking Hand woodworking

11 6 7 13

Drill the mortise place. You only need to make sure the this will give you a place for the to The secret of a good fit is you can square, glue and it. Unlike a housed mortise that needs to is perpendicular to the face – you cut and produce a very clean shoulder. 11 crisp lines. To clean, pare Finally, off the waste – note the be chopped out, a bridle joint is open- can use a try square – as the washer Using a and a tenon saw, from the scribe line to the tenon. direction and angle I am here; ended and a different method can be makes sure it is horizontal. you now begin to cut down to the The cheeks can be pared a little as before, using this technique will employed. While you can place the tenon marks. Place the rail in the vice at a time and the fit checked often. avoid tear-out. stile on the bench hook and drill the Drill through the bottom of the at 45° and rip down on the waste side hole from above, I have never found 7 mortise until you can just see to the ends of the scribe marks using If you have trouble seating Take your time and you will this to be very accurate since you have the point of the bit poking through a dovetail saw. Turn the wood around 12 the tenon in the mortise, 13 be able to produce crisp clean to be able to keep the drill vertical, the other side. Turn the wood round and again saw at 45°, using the kerf as then you can chisel a very shallow joints. You can experiment with while seeing all directions – not an and drill from the other side; this your guide. Lastly, saw vertically down concavity in the bottom of the double and angled bridle joints – easy feat. Instead, I like to place the will prevent any tear-out. Before to the shoulder and the waste should 12 mortise. Once the joint is finished, you can even peg the joints. stile vertically in the vice so that the withdrawing the bit, back it off a few fall away. mortise location faces towards you and turns. You can also use this method to the location of the hole is about waist hog out the waste in regular mortises You need to repeat this for ‘T’ bridle joint Not only is the ‘T’ bridle joint try square and marking knife to height. With your and 10mm – use tape to mark the bit to gauge the 10 the other cheeks. This should 1 strong, but it allows the grain of scribe the joint. spiral bit, drill a hole at the base of the depth. Once the hole is drilled, saw the be sounding familiar – repetition is the rail to flow through the joint, mortise – make sure that you position rest of the mortise in the same way as good for you, so they say – but more giving a much nicer appearance. Pare away from both sides, the bit so that the drill bores a hole with the tenon – on the waste side. importantly, with each repeated action, It is also easier to cut when the rails 3 checking the fit from time to time. that touches the three marked lines your skills will develop, be reinforced are curved. Photo 1 shows an inlaid and is perpendicular to the edge. Lastly, using your mortise chisel, and become natural over time, thus side table with two ‘T’ bridle joints If the stile is thicker than the rail, 8 clean up the mortise base from making you a better woodworker. This connecting the legs to the rails. 4 marking from the face side will still When starting out, a simple way to both sides to avoid tear-out. joint is going to be visible on two faces produce a flush joint. If you are adding 6 keep the brace and bit horizontal so you will need to clean the mating A ‘T’ bridle joint is made in much a , you just need to add the is to place a washer over the bit – if the Cutting the tenons faces with a chisel. If you look carefully 2 the same way that we cut the amount of the reveal to the distance drill is horizontal, while turning the Cut a ‘V’ on the waste side at the tenon in photo 10, you can see 1 corner bridle, only this time the tenon between the movable spur and the brace, the washer will remain in one 9 of the shoulder line using a chisel; that the scribe lines are still visible. part of the joint is moved along the gauge’s . rail. Mark out and cut the mortise as before. The ‘tenon’ should also be laid So get the bit between your teeth and out as before, using the mortise gauge have a go at making some bridle joints! to mark the location. Use the

NEXT MONTH 4 Michael shows how to build a simple panel door using many techniques and joints learned so far. ■

8 2

9 10 3

24 www.woodworkersinstitute.com Woodworking Crafts issue 04 25