Part 2: Learn All The Things!!! Tongue and Groove Joint

In my last post, I posted my first shop video.  And while it takes a while to edit video footage and put together a project, I am much more likely to get useful imagery to post here.  Therefore, I will be making more video content, even if it takes me just a bit longer to get a post up here.  While I strive to make weekly updates (mostly on Saturdays), I would rather have well documented content that most clearly demonstrates what I am doing.

This week, I continued in Lesson 1 of the self-study course.  Previously, I did assignments 1 - 5.  Assignment 6 instructs in the creation of a tongue and groove joint.

As described, this assignment called for stock 3/4" thick.  Unfortunately, all that I had to hand that was of sufficient dimensions otherwise was 1" thick.  This turned out to be extra educational, as I was forced to also learn how to adapt measurements to achieve the desired result.

I ended up sawing off the tongues and grooves, and repeated this assignment about 6 times (once per side), until the stock was too narrow to safely saw on edge.

Reviewing the video helped me identify some of the trouble I was having (another reason I like video!).  I was using a zero-clearance insert, which you can see sits just a bit below the surface of the main table.  I was measuring blade height to the table surface, and not the insert surface, which for the face cuts on the tongues didn't matter, but for all the cuts with the board on edge, it made a variance in the depth of the cut.

The table may have also been just slightly out of square in relation to the blade, which combined with the raw lumber led to distinct problems in getting good fitting joints.  Guess I need to buy some pre-surfaced boards until I learn about that!

Part 3 now available!