pieces parts marking methods

[jeffcon4]

As my projects get more complex (not necessarily better, but certainly more complex) I'm finding I lack discipline when marking which parts go to which other parts. This is something I 'should' have developed a long time ago but somehow I've managed to get by until recently. I'm making a drawing/stained glass table for my better half with a bunch of mortise/tenon joints and some other miscellaneous joints, I thought had carefully marked it all, until I went for a dry run and realized they made almost no sense at all. 

I'm hoping you guys will have some ideas I can use to avoid the "what the heck was I gonna do with this one?" thing. 

Any help greatly appreciated. 

Jeff

[Aram]

As my projects get more complex (not necessarily better, but certainly more complex) I'm finding I lack discipline when marking which parts go to which other parts. This is something I 'should' have developed a long time ago but somehow I've managed to get by until recently. I'm making a drawing/stained glass table for my better half with a bunch of mortise/tenon joints and some other miscellaneous joints, I thought had carefully marked it all, until I went for a dry run and realized they made almost no sense at all. 

I'm hoping you guys will have some ideas I can use to avoid the "what the heck was I gonna do with this one?" thing. 

Any help greatly appreciated. 

Jeff

Great post. Hopefully I'll learn better ways than my current ways! 

For mortises and tenons, blue painters tape with matching letters written in fat Sharpie ("A" mortise piece marked with an "A", matching tenon piece marked with an "A" also). I also like an arrow on each piece showing which way is up .Same thing with dovetailed boxes.  One advantage of tape, rather than pencil directly on wood, is you can move it temporarily to the other side if you need to plane or sand, then move it back.

For panel glue-ups, for frames, cabinet makers' triangle. They are truly foolproof.

[barryvabeach]

Jeff,  Like Aram, I like the Carpenters triangle.  https://www.finewoodworking.com/2007/02/...k-of-parts .  On some pieces, I do a drawing, and on the drawing label all the pieces, then label and draw witness marks on the lumber to keep the orientation correct. I use chalk - it comes off easy, and try to make sure I am marking on a place that will not be cut or milled - or that as soon as it is cut or milled, I remark it. For example, I will mark the piece on the end when it is rough cut , with both the letter of the piece, plus an arrow showing up and and arrow facing to the right- once it is jointed and planed, I will mark it again, on a face, so I have the orientation before I cut it to length ( which would remove the mark on the end) , if I make a tenon on one end, I with then mark the face of the tenon, since that will not be trimmed or removed.   If the piece is more complex, I will add numbers to the sub assembly -  so I might be 1 A for the top rail in door to the left, 2 A for the top rail in the middle door etc.

[jeffcon4]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it, the carpenter's triangle article was helpful. I haven't tried the blue tape trick but I'll give it a go. Seems my biggest problem is making sure I have things well marked before I separate the pieces, and not planing the marks off for finishing. The tape thing might be just right for that. 

Thanks again. 

Jeff

[Rob Young]

Cabinet maker's triangles work great for things that are box or panel shaped.

For mortise and tenon, if there is enough room I use a chisel to stamp in a Roman numeral on the tenon cheek (just do it so you are stamping ACROSS the grain, not with it) and if it can be covered by the tenon shoulders, near the corresponding mortise. I've seen such marks outside the area covered by a tenon shoulder too, usually on the inside where you wouldn't normally see such things. If the M&T is small, pencil instead of chisel incised. This is after fitting. That little bit of wax binder in the pencil lead won't make a difference during gluing.

Some Roman numerals can read the same forwards (right-side up) and backwards (upside down), 9 (IX) and 11 (XI) for example. So if you had 12 M&T joints, it might be necessary to use Arabic numerals instead. Or make some other mark to indicate which is which maybe VIIII for 9. Whatever.

I've also seen people use letter & number stamps for the same purpose.

[jeffcon4]

Cabinet maker's triangles work great for things that are box or panel shaped.

For mortise and tenon, if there is enough room I use a chisel to stamp in a Roman numeral on the tenon cheek (just do it so you are stamping ACROSS the grain, not with it) and if it can be covered by the tenon shoulders, near the corresponding mortise.  I've seen such marks outside the area covered by a tenon shoulder too, usually on the inside where you wouldn't normally see such things.  If the M&T is small, pencil instead of chisel incised.  This is after fitting.  That little bit of wax binder in the pencil lead won't make a difference during gluing.  

Some Roman numerals can read the same forwards (right-side up) and backwards (upside down), 9 (IX) and 11 (XI) for example.  So if you had 12 M&T joints, it might be necessary to use Arabic numerals instead.  Or make some other mark to indicate which is which maybe VIIII for 9.  Whatever.

I've also seen people use letter & number stamps for the same purpose.

Thanks Rob, that's an excellent idea.

[Gary G™]

I’ve used blue painters tape for legs and M&T joinery too.
I’ll mark legs TLR (top, left rear), TRR, TLF, TRF and put triangles on the adjacent faces.
With this, each leg’s position is absolute and the remaining joinery can be marked out without error.

[Admiral]

For M&T, I mark in pencil 1, 2, 3 etc on interior surfaces. Otherwise, I use white chalk triangles for panels, and to layout stock on rough boards for length and rip; replacing the relevant marks after milling.

[rectangle618]

I always use Starboard and Port instead of Right and Left when marking. This avoids some possible confusion - for example in chair making, left and right change when you go from standing and facing to sitting in a chair. Starboard and Port are consistent as long as you remember front and back correctly.

[jeffcon4]

Thanks guys, some really good stuff here. Now as long as I don't use them all, all at once...

Jeff