avoiding poorly fitting joints

[Scoony]

One thing that has helped me with tight joinery is a 6" caliper. With dadoes, I can measure a test cut against the material going into the dado and know exactly which shim(s) to add to the stack. With mortise and tenon joints, I know the size of the mortise and can creep up on the proper tenon size quickly. Using a common reference surface is important.