![](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-hgDGZG73oak/TXq8ryRfDII/AAAAAAAAFSQ/gTK8m6smXEs/s200/BevelsTodd.jpg)
I promised my partner and brother that I'd make each of them a meditation bench for Christmas.
My partner's was finished about two weeks after the holiday. My brother's was finished last weekend—10 weeks late.
![](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-FE98eXrkCU0/TXq8paYOU1I/AAAAAAAAFR8/DVb6of1I_Ek/s200/1Todd.jpg)
Ah well. Meditation involves patience, right?
My brother did not want any carving on his bench, so I decided to add a little pizzaz by making the bevels on the tenons and mortises more pronounced.
![](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-sxPFXVJsW7Q/TXq8pnsET3I/AAAAAAAAFSA/Rh-qKgY8AG0/s200/2Todd.jpg)
This is easy to do. Just draw your layout lines* on all four sides of your workpiece to mark the bottom of the chamfers. Then draw four lines on the endgrain to mark the top of the chamfers.
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bdFU9sLDjh0/TXq8qZfzQJI/AAAAAAAAFSE/WgKnJ7PRQTM/s200/3Todd.jpg)
If you keep your blade inside the pencil lines as you pare away material, the bevel will be consistent on all four sides.
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YDi0ZKShUfM/TXq8qzTJ78I/AAAAAAAAFSI/sCsOTPDfDy0/s200/4Todd.jpg)
![](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ANklXrch7fI/TXq8rR2cQeI/AAAAAAAAFSM/0mfCTmK1aps/s200/5Todd.jpg)
Wood is adaptable, warm, and.....forgiving. And I'm hoping my brother possesses the same attributes. heh. Merry Christmas, bro. :o)
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*A friend on facebook asked why I used a pencil to lay out the lines rather than a marking gauge. Here's why: The cutting gauge would have left score marks that would only have been removed if I had chiseled beyond the marks. That would have made it more difficult to keep the bevels consistent.