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by
Michel Roy
photos by Martin Tessler
illustration by Len Churchill |
MISSION MIRROR |
| Timeless
mortise-and-tenon joinery make for a classic Arts and Crafts
design |
This mirror
is a classic variation on the Mission design theme that elevates
simple rails and stiles while also showing off your joinery
skills. I added a slight convex arc on the top rail, but you
don’t have to stop there. A concave arc on the mirror’s
bottom rail is also an option. The flat frame surfaces are ideal
for inlay or incised carvings. Simple corbelled candle sconces
could also be mounted to the stiles.
The
exposed corner tenons are key to the design. Mission principles
allow structural details to serve as decoration.
The Right Frame
Ideally, the size of every mirror frame should be tailored to
fit the place where it’s going to hang. Find a home for
your mirror before you start work, then adjust length and width
dimensions to suit the space.
 |
| Reflect
your love for Arts and Crafts through the looking
glass of this clean and classic mirror-frame design. |
|
Begin by choosing and milling your wood. I used quartersawn
white oak—the classic species for Mission designs—although
other hardwoods work fine too. The rails and stiles are all
3/4" thick. Notice that the top rail is an inch wider than
the bottom rail, to accommodate the arc.
Once you have milled your stock, lay out, cut and test assemble
all mortises and tenons without glue.
Mirror, Mirror
You have a couple of options for preparing the arc on the top
rail. You could make a router template to match the curve, then
rough-cut it with a jigsaw before using a bearing-guided flush-trimming
router bit to transfer the final shape to your wood. You could
also trace the arc directly onto the wood, rough-cut it with
a saw, then refine the shape with a block plane or belt sander.
Either way, draw the arc by tracing a bent piece of thin wood,
or set up a very large compass with a long piece of rigid scrap
pivoting on a finishing nail.
After the curve is cut, join the frame parts permanently with
glue. Just be careful. You have to keep glue off the ends of
the tenons. They’ll be peeking out the other sides of
the mortises after assembly, and glue would mar the effect.
You can stay tidy by finishing the parts before assembly, or
finishing the tenon ends only. This way any extra glue wipes
off easily. Here’s another option: insert the tenons partway
into their mortises, then apply glue to the tenon sides. Keep
the glue back far enough from the shoulders to prevent squeeze-out.
Brush on a coat of glue, followed a moment later by another,
thinner coat. This two-stage approach helps spread the glue
evenly, while also ensuring that the joint isn’t starved
of adhesive. Proper glue application is one of those things
that gets better with practice, so be patient with yourself
if things don’t go perfectly.
Clamp the frame together, checking that it’s square and
flat. When the glue has set, plane, scrape or sand any misalignment.
Next, cut a rabbet all around the inside back of the frame to
accommodate the mirror. A bearing-guided rabbeting bit in a
table-mounted router works best. Take shallow passes, no more
than 1/8" deep at a time. If chipping is a problem, carefully
rout with the bit’s direction of travel rather than against
it. This is called climb cutting and it produces very fine cuts,
although you need to be careful.
Since you’re pushing wood in the same direction as the
router bit spins, be careful that the wood isn’t pulled
out of your hand. As you work, aim to rabbet deep enough so
there’s room for both the mirror and a protective back
panel of 1/8"-thick hardboard. Square up the corners with
a chisel. |
| YOU
WILL NEED |
| PART |
SIZE* |
QTY |
| Top
rail |
3/4" x 5" x 47 5/8"
|
1 |
| Bottom
rail |
3/4" x 4" x 47 5/8" |
1 |
| Stiles |
3/4" x 4" x 34 1/2" |
2 |
| All
parts made from white oak *Length indicates grain direction |
|
1.
Start with the frame
2. Ammonia fuming, detailed
illustrations |
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