Time passes...

Well, it looks like there's a huge gap in my crib-making documentation. The following steps don't have pictures, so you'll have to be content with just seeing the finished product at the end.

First I cut a groove 1/4" wide and 1/2" deep along the inside edges of the rails and styles. This groove holds the maple panel in place. Next I cut the maple panels to size. As with the mortises, this cut is complicated by the fact that the top tail is curved. Finally, I cut a rabbet along all the edges of each panel: the idea is to leave a 1/4" thick lip that slides into the grooves in the frame. This technique is standard frame-and-panel assembly.

Next I designed decorative cut-outs for the panels. On one side I have a night-time scene: moon and stars. On the other side I have a day-time scene: sun and reeds. The only neat-o aspect of the cut-outs is that the star pattern matches the constellation Scorpius, which is Jonah's zodiac sign. Cut-outs are easy to design, but not so easy to cut out. I used a combination of the power drill, saber saw, and hand tools. Cleaning up the results required lots of hand chiseling.

Finally, I glued the parts of each side together. Note that the only glued parts are the rails and styles of the frame. The panel is not glued -- it "floats" in the groove, allowing seasonal expansion and contraction of the wood. All in all, I think the sides came out great. Note, however, the very serious face of the "customer".

Side frame joinery

Each crib side consists of a cherry frame with two maple panels (see previous posts). In this step I made mortise and tenon joints for the frame. The tricky part is that the frame is not entirely square: the top rail is curved. As a result, the mortises go into the top tail at funny angles -- funny angles that need to line up perfectly, or the frame won't fit together correctly!

In the first two pictures you're seeing the three styles (vertical parts of the panel) each with a tenon that fits into a mortise in the bottom rail. This part was fairly straight forward because the styles go into the bottom rail at a right angle. I used the tenoning jig on the tablesaw to cut the tenons, the mortising machine to cut the mortises.

Making the joints for the top rail is much more tricky. My strategy is to extend the lines of each style up over the top rail so that I can see what the angle of the mortise needs to be. Then I use a crazy set up on the mortise machine (not shown because it was too crazy) that holds the top rail at just the right angle. Finally, I have to cut the shoulder of the tenon so that it matches the curve of the rail. What a royal pain! But the results are pretty good.

The last picture shows the resulting frame dry-fitted together. The panels are just lying on the bench behind the frame. I still have several steps left: (1) cut a groove in the inside of the frame to hold the panel, (2) cut the panel to size, (3) cut a lip (a rabbet) on the edge of the panel so it fits in the groove.

Panels

Well, it's been a while since I added anything to this blog -- you can probably guess why! That's not to say that I haven't been working on the crib, bit by bit. Now I want to get you caught up on where I am...

The next step was to make the maple panels for the sides. In the previous entry I had resawn a large board into thinner and smaller boards. Next I edge-glued groups of boards together to form the four panels I need -- two for each side. The clamping set-up for gluing a panel is fairly elaborate: I have pipe clamps holding the boards together, and the clamping cauls holding the boards flat and aligned.