Step 6 - Short Rails
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Short rails include the spreaders, outer seat supports and middle seat supports, three different parts with three completely different measurements.
 We start by ripping the rail stock to the proper height, then cross cutting each set of pieces to the precise length using an Incra miter fence with sliding stop. Having a fence like this makes it possible to make very precise, repeated cuts so all the parts in a set come out exactly the came size.
 The middle seat support rails use an off-set tenon, that is a tenon that is not centered in the stock as tenons normally are. We start the process by setting to the fences to cut a slot to form the deep shoulder of each tenon.
 Then we go to the band saw and remove the waste from the joint area. The front tenon also has side shoulders, so I continue with the band saw, flip the rail upright and trim away the excess wood on the sides of these tenons. The rear tenons are full width and need no more attention.
 The end seat supports and the spreaders use standard tenons that are centered in the stock, so I use the table saw to cut the shoulders to the proper depth -- which is not the same on all faces of all rails, so I have to pay attention to the template notes. The groove runs all the way around each end of each rail and, if everything was set up properly, meets up with itself perfectly after the final cut.
 Then it's back to the band saw to cut the cheeks. The side cheeks are all the same depth, so I cut all the rails while the band saw it set-up and tuned in to this depth. The top & bottom shoulder depths vary from one type of rail to another. Seems unnecessarily complicated to me, I think I'd have designed them all the same to simply cutting them, but this bench wasn't designed for production, and I guess Norm knew what he was doing.
 Finally I cut the arches in the seat rails, again using the band saw. I cut them just outside the line, just roughed out. Then all the parts are stacked back on the table with their templates.
 The final step is to polish off those arches that provide for a nice comfy seat using the router table fitted with a long flush trim bit and a special jig I built. This jig cradles each rail and guides the router bit to clean up the rough band saw cut and yield a nice smooth, even curve.
The short rails are done -- at least for now; we'll do a little more shaping and trimming on them later but now it's time to move on to making the long rails.
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