Dovetailed Halflap Keyhole Mortise and Tenon Firewood Racks

The name makes this project sound more amazing than what it is. Essentially, this is an experiment project for me to dial in the process of a dovetailed half lap joint. I’ve got an idea to make a small production run of traditional woodworking workbenches on my CNC and a dovetailed halflap joint is one of the necessary joints to get the job done.

I learned a lot on this build and it ended up being a visually appealing and useful project. Win-win all around on this one.

14 COMMENTS

  1. Very good. You putting that vertical plane on the CNC was a great idea.

    (Got to love the dancing queen😊)

    As aside, I’ve noticed recently that clicking on the 👍Like button on the web page doesn’t register. 🤔

    • Thanks for the feedback, Wayne. With this video, the like button may not have worked if you watched it early. After sending my email, I found an error, rendered a new copy, and uploaded a new version. So, the first few hundred views were registered on a now unlisted link.

  2. Man you’re looking good. I am so happy for you and your health. The racks look great too but the real work is happening in that back corner.

  3. Looks really nice. Surprised that you did not add a cross member on top to help with the stress of the wood pushing out on top. I really like the key hole M&T

  4. I’ve been admiring many of your projects for several years now. Not without substantial envy of the expensive tooling you have acquired to literally machine your woodworking projects. It was fun to watch, but I imagine with more than 10k dollars for your CNC machine, I will have to settle on the less aesthetic half lap construction you have used before. There is no way I’m going to reproduce your joinery with ordinary traditional power woodworking tools. You did explain your personal intent for this project. Thanks for letting me watch and drool over the machining of that keyhole tenon.

    • My apologies. As stated in the video, my goal was research with this particular project and video. I’m going to continue to do what interests me, and I hope you do as well. Take care and have a wonderful day.

    • Three reasons. First, it looks cool, like you stated. Second, it’s just a random shape I haven’t done yet. And third, the shape of the keyhole creates more conflicting geometry, compared to a standard-shaped tenon, that will resist the forces of the top of the leg bowing out over time.

  5. Jay, Love your video’s however, speaking for my self most of your videos use the top shelf tool’s. When I purchased my table saw I figured I was on top of the world. Hope to see more down to earth project’s in the further. I’ve been a long fan.

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