After a few days setting only one of the Zia blanks had
moved and it was a small bow that could be used but for now it’s set aside
since I had some extras. When the
cardboard test pieces were cut the scroll saw was used cutting a stack of four
pieces all at once. That worked for the
cardboard but would be way too thick to gang cut 4 pieces and take way too long
to cut all 64 of the actual ½” thick cedar pieces individually. To speed things up a jig on the table saw is
used to gang cut three pieces at an angle matching the chord of the arc that’s
the ray’s finished surface. The red
highlighted area in the photo shows what will be cut off.
Once cut the template with the appropriate arc is traced
onto the face of the piece. It’s then
taken to the drum sander to add the curve to the end. The arc to be sanded is pretty small and
doesn’t take but a moment to make.
Making the center circle is next. To start the blanks that had long ago been
glued up to get the required width were checked for flatness and they were all
good. Cutting them down on the table saw
to a 6 ½” square is next followed by laying out horizontal and vertical center
lines to be used in centering the completed ring on the infill panels
later. With all that done the drill
press is used to make a small hole inside the ring. The top photo shows the scroll saw blade fed
through that hole. In the left bottom photo, the red arrow points toward the blade ready to be installed in the upper
blade clamp. The bottom right photo has
the blade clamped, tensioned and the foot in place that holds the piece
down while cutting the center free.
Once the center is cut out the inside surface is smoothed
and brought down to the line with the drum sander.
It’s then on to the bandsaw to cut the outer perimeter of
the circle. This could have been done on
the scroll saw but the band saw is a lot faster. After being cut the outer edge is smoothed
and brought down to the line using the large disk sander.
With the Zia’s circles done all 68 of the Zia’s applique
parts are done along with a few extras and ready to be installed after a
little hand sanding.
Gluing the door pieces together is next. There are a couple of considerations for what
glue to use. First, the glue needs to be
waterproof. Second, I need to have
enough working time before the glue sets to apply the glue, do the assembly,
clamp the pieces together, check to make sure the gate is square, adjust if
necessary and clean up the glue squeeze out.
The Type III glue used so far meets the first criteria of being
waterproof but there is no way it meets the working time. The Type III glue gives me about 10 minutes
maximum working time and that’s not near what’s going to be needed which I
estimate at about 30-40 minutes. There
are two different glues that I know of that meet the waterproof criteria and
have longer working times. First is
Phenolic glue whose working time is between 20 and 30 minutes. Better but not long enough to give me any
cushion if problems show up. Epoxy is my
other choice with longer a working time of about 30 to 40 minutes although it needs to
be clamped overnight for a full cure.
In the left drawing the highlighted pieces are to be
glued up in the first round. The center
drawing is an exploded view of the pieces of the first step in assembly
consisting of one stile, two of the three rails, the latillas including
their dowels and anti-rotation pins. The
bottom photo shows the latilla’s pieces and the top right photo is with all
those pieces glued and clamped with the remaining pieces dry-fitted. It’s a good thing I went with the epoxy as it
took almost 30 minutes to mix, apply, clamp and square the assembly then
another 10 minutes or so to clean up any epoxy that had oozed out when
clamped. Now the whole process gets
repeated with the other gate.
After letting the epoxy cure overnight, the clamps get
removed so the screws between the stile and rails can be installed. They are #10 x 4” long structural screws with
an anti-corrosion coating. There are two
screws at each of the four corners and one at the center rail. The drawing shows the highlighted stiles and
rails that were epoxied together and will receive the screws. The photo is a close view of the red circled
area. The dashed pencil marks outline
the square mortise holes in the rail and the rail’s tenon that’s inserted into
the stiles mortise. The screws are set
showing them at the bottom of the mortise and how far they will go through the
tenon into the rail.
The next step is to epoxy on the bottom rail
(highlighted) then once cured add two screws just like above. I could have epoxied this rail on at the same
time I did the first glue-up but thought doing so could have been beyond the
working time of the epoxy. It might have
been OK but I was right at end of the working time without including this piece
so it ended up being a good decision to wait. 
With the bottom rail in place, I could add the first of
the three infill panels that go in the lower section. Process is to apply glue to the long edge so
it would get glued to the stile then slide it down the slots between the middle
and lower rails then clamp it in place.
Last 1” long 23-gauge stainless steel pin nails are used at just the end
of the rail (red arrows) to lock the panel in place. This way the rest of the panel can expand and
contract with no problems. The bottom
photo shows how thin the pins are. 
Last is to clean up and remove a few places where the
glue oozed out along the infill panel/stile joint. The top photo has a dime for scale. The bottom photo is after a sharp chisel is
used to cut the glue off after it has semi-set but not yet cured hard.
Next Up – Installing Infill panels, Fitting/Gluing Mortise Plugs & Marking Zia Reference Lines
