MAKING KERFED LININGS

The rough linings were originally cut when I initially resawed of the lumber. They were sawn from leftovers of the mahogany neck stock - 32" long 3/4" wide and a fat 5/16" thick. Each lining strip had already been planed on one side.

The first thing I set out to do was to plane them in pairs to a final width of 15mm, just shy of 5/8", by clamping them on to my shooting board, one on top of the other, and straightening them in the process as well. Each of them had a slight crook in them, but I can't remember if that was already there before they were cut or something they developed later.

Then the lining strips received a 45º bevel plane by sticking them on the shooting board with double sided tape and planing them with my block plane, using the step for support while leaning the plane up against the linings. I used my newly acquired 38º blade for this, first on a very coarse setting gradually retracting the blade to a fine setting as I got closer to the desired bevel that left a 1/16" edge on the top.

Then the linings were planed in pair to final thickness, 6mm for the bottom linings and 6.5mm for the top ones using a double sided sticky tape and a bench dog as stop. It would probably have been more logical to do this step before adding the bevel, but that was the way I ended up going about it.

Last the kerfing was cut. This operation was also executed with the linings in pairs, with the end of the linings taped together with blue tape to keep them aligned at all times. I started out having the saw exit on the bevel side of the linings, but soon realized that it gave a must cleaner result when I turned the linings around having the cut exit at the square end. I used a fine dovetail saw and the little miter box I made for the rosette tile cutting. The saw is a Lie-Nielsen straight handle rip saw and it has a very thin blade and is set with a narrow kerf, which made it necessary to cut the kerfing in 4mm increments to allow the linings enough flexibility to be bend around the waist. I chose the rip saw, as opposed to a cross cut saw, as it leaves a flat bottom in the cut.

I attached a little piece of maple inside the miter box as a guide for cutting the kerfing to an even width. I also made a depth stop for the saw from some maple scrap that I clamped on its side with three plastic spring clamps, leaving about 1/32" of the linings uncut.

The new 38º and 50ºblades I got for my block plane has turned this little workhorse into a small wonder in itself. I know Lee Valley also makes a toothed blade for their block planes now and after the success I had with its bigger brother I think this blade is going to be added to my wish list of future purchases.

BLOCK PLANE BLADES

JOINTING LININGS

PLANING LINING BEVELS
KERFING PROFILE

PLANING LININGS TO FINAL THICKNESS

CUTTING THE KERFING

THE FINISHED KERFED LININGS

KERFING CLOSE-UP