How to Cut Grooves with Chisels and Use Clamps

When doing your projects, working with the right tool is an important factor. To choose the right equipment, you'll need to decide upon the required strength, the appearance you wish the project to have and the work you are willing to do. The following is a guide to using chisels and clamps.

Using chisels:

A chisel is most commonly used for cutting grooves and mortises. Some mortises, like those needed for recessing hinge leaves, are quite shallow, whereas others, like those in mortise-and-tenon joinery, may be quite deep.

Chisels for cutting grooves often come in sets; you can get a typical set of four standard chisels. This type, equipped with metal-capped plastic handles, is handy for cutting small grooves and notches. You may not need a complete set of four (quarter inch, half inch, three quarter inch and one inch); buy them as you need them.

The process is simply, follow these steps:

1 Outline with a pencil the area to be removed. If mortising for a hinge, use the hinge as a template.

2 Score along the lines with a sharp tool. If the mortise will be open on one side, score the depth as well.

3 Lightly rap the chisel on each cross-grain mark (bevel facing waste wood) to keep the mortise from splitting beyond those marks.

4 Moving with the blade's bevel forward make a series of parallel cuts to the desired depth. The chisel should be almost vertical to the surface.

5 Chip out all the waste wood that has been loosened, hand holding the chisel and decreasing its angle considerably.

6 Working from one side make the final smoothing cuts with the chisel almost flat. If mortising a hinge, check it for uniformly flush fit.

For cutting grooves with deeper mortise, first make a series of holes with a drill to remove most of the excess wood. Then join the series of holes and square-up the resulting mortise, using a chisel.

Using clamps:

Having a few good clamps available can be more helpful than having an extra pair of hands. Not only can clamps exert extreme pressure on pieces being glued, but also they can hold a piece of lumber on a workbench, enabling you to work with both hands. Buy them as you need them.

A carpenter's tip: to protect wood surfaces from being marred by the jaws a metal clamp, slip a scrap block between the jaws and the wood surface before tightening the clamp.

Take a look at some clamps that can assist you:

Band clamp is used for clamping unusually-shaped pieces together. You simply wrap a canvas strap loop around the pieces and tightly draw it into a metal buckle.

C-clamp is very handy and inexpensive. It clamps materials together or to a workbench. Basic jaw widths are available from three inches to sixteen inches.

The woodworker's vise bolts to a workbench or sawhorse, holding materials securely and freeing both your hands for work. Large jaws evenly distribute pressure. Most vises come without hardwood faces; you have to add the wood. When you are bench-mounting a vise, keep the top of jaws flush with bench top.

A spring clamp is used mostly for clamping the light materials. It is like a large clothespin, with two spring-loaded handles that keep the jaws tight until they are firmly squeezed together.

Wooden hand-screw is use to adjust both the angle and the distance, by making irregular, flat-sided objects easy to clamp. When working, keep the jaws parallel to the surfaces that are being clamped.

Finally, a bar clamp is similar to a larger pipe clamp. This is an excellent clamp for clamping face frames and clamping across broad materials. Because of its quick ability to adjust, a short bar clamp is very handy for miscellaneous clamping.

Sources:

Patrick Spielman (1986). Gluing and Clamping: A Woodworker's Handbook. Sterling Publishing. ISBN 0-8069-6274-7