simple chopped decoration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This wren was hanging around the riving brake the other day…

 

In the shop, the electrics were out all week. Made for some nice low-light woodworking. Today  I was prepping a rail for a rabbet along its bottom edge, to be enhanced with some zig-zag decoration chopped with a chisel. Furniture historians have called this “serrated” decoration. It is found in a slew of Plymouth Colony furniture. Other times I have seen it called “sawtooth” decoration.

well, whatever we call it,  here’s how I cut it. First I planed a rabbet in the face of the stock, along the lower edge. I eyeballed the depth of the rabbet, cutting it just a bit shallower than the markings for the tenons.

 

 

Then laid out the sawteeth/serrations/zig zag with a miter square and awl. You can pace the spacing out with the compass, but this is pretty easy.

 

Then I used a chisel to incise the oak along the layout. Struck once, pretty hard to chop down into the stock.

 

Now, using hand pressure, I just pare into the incised marks. Presto.  Later, one set of “teeth” will get painted. Black.

 

 

 

 

In another week or so, I will be able to take a couple hours to walk the beach, to see all the shorebirds that are migrating though these parts. Here’s a few of the little guys from last week.