Staked Stool – Mortises

2017.02.25

I brought out the angle drilling jig I made for the Portable Staked Desk.  Conveniently, these legs will also be at 16°.  However, the planar angle is not 45°, more like 40°, so I removed the fences and used a bevel gauge to get close.

I started with a 5/8″ forstner bit.  Then I switched to the Veritas Tapered Reamer, which matches the 12.8° angle on the Tapered Tenon Cutter.

Stool set up on jig to drill angled mortise
Veritas Tapered Reamer drilling mortise in stool

So far, so good.  But the mortise was not yet large enough for the tenon to pass all the way through.

Tapered mortise in staked stool
Testing fit of tapered mortise and tenon

I started cutting deeper.  But soon I met lots of resistance; why so hard to drill down?  Being only slightly more clever than a boulder, instead of stopping I just leaned harder on the feed lever.  And then smoke started coming out of the hole.  Uh oh…

So… yeah.  It stopped cutting deeper when the tip of this exceptionally long tapered reamer hit the plywood drill press table.  That blue streak on the reamer?  Not good.  Charring in the mortise not a happy story either, but I’m afraid I’ve ruined the tapered reamer on my very first try.  I went ahead and attempted the other mortises, but the reamer could not even make them as large as the first one.

Tapered reamer overheated, mortise charred
Tapered reamer can no longer drill large holes

Well, it’s certainly disappointing to ruin a brand new tool.  I’ll have to order another one from Lee Valley and try again.  Next time, I will elevate the angle jig so there will be ample clearance.