The Brace factory

This is going to be tricky for a left handed guy like myself. As explained in the earlier post I have to build the gazebo upside down. The braces marked left and right will be reversed in the final assembly. Keep in mind there is an inside and outside to each brace. 

Cutting the basic 45 degree angle was done on the miter saw.

The basic process is pretty straight forward. In most cases the rim joist and the post are at 90 degree angles to each other. That makes the cuts to the brace 45 degrees. Calculating the hypotenuse of the right triangle and laying out this length for where the tenon joins the frame. However I chose to make my structure a hexagon. This adds a 60 degree included angle (6 X 60 = 360) to the project. Laying out and cutting these compound angles will be a challenge.

Needless to say it is going to be a “process” and you have to be thinking a few steps ahead if you want it all to fit together. This is the part of the process that is lost on the casual observer and gives special meaning to the ol’ saying, “they don’t make things like they used to!”

After laying out the tenons the next step is to cut them and gage the thickness of each.

The tenon must be clean and smooth. An added problem is that all the cuts need to be marked before cutting and some of the lines will be cut off with the scrap this has to be planned for with “tick” marks.

Hand sawing the tenon end that goes into the rim joist is straight and simple

The finished results will look like this. 

The tenon end that joins into the post is a real animal.

And requires you to keep the angles in mind and how they intersect. This was something I learned during the model building I did in the early stages of the process.

The piece removed looks like the one on the left. The one on the right is the piece from the normal 90 degree tenon going into the rim joist. 

Another twist to the cut is the relief angle that has to be cut where the tenon meets the vertical post to allow for the 30 degree angle as the brace folds inward. Again another thing that only the builder has to contend with and appreciates.

One final look at the surface planes of the end that will mate up with the 6 by 6 vertical post.

And here’s what it is all about. If only you could go to the local lumber yard and buy a finished brace like you can for a stair stringer.

Next “The mating game” cutting the mortise.