I’ve been using a combination of circular saw, coping saw, and chisel to cut these notches, the following problems have occurred:
1. Places I’ve previously glued have come apart when I’ve sawed near them.
2. Chiseling near the edge of the board can accidentally splinter off the edge of the board if you’re not especially careful about cutting slowly like me.
I think I’m going to have to get new boards, and not ones from the $2 pile. I will also have to have a jigsaw to avoid these problems because I’m not going to get all that much better any time soon. I think I’ve tapped out my tools budget, so maybe I’ll wait a month. That, or I can get a bad jigsaw from Goodwill.