Cutting tenons quickly and safely

[Mike Brady]

I recently have been making a dressing bench for use at the foot of a bed  There are 12 mortise and tenon joints needed.  I don't use much machinery in my woodworking, but I do have a table saw and a mortising machine, and a bandsaw.  Those tools present several options for making good-fitting M&T joints, but I'll have to admit that I have not established an easily repeatable cutting technique.  Could any of you share how you cut M&T joints in table construction?

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

I use floating tenons in every table I build.  Until I can justify a Domino, I use a Mortise Master.  Not as quick as a Domino, but super easy and accurate, and with a price of $250, much more affordable.

Search it on YouTube to get a tutorial.

[fredhargis]

Using a table saw with a dado set is a fast way to cut tenons, but I find you I always have a little hand tuning to do that takes a few minutes. For one thing, the dado set doesn't cut a perfectly flat set (at least mine don't), so the tuning is usually to get things smoothed out (chisel, better is a shoulder plane) and I usually cut them just ever so slightly oversized so i can trim them down to fit the mortise. But with only 12 to cut, I might be more inclined to use the bandsaw....or if you want to get/build a loose tenon jig, that way might be the best (remember you'll still have to make the tenons separately).

[jteneyck]

I recently have been making a dressing bench for use at the foot of a bed  There are 12 mortise and tenon joints needed.  I don't use much machinery in my woodworking, but I do have a table saw and a mortising machine, and a bandsaw.  Those tools present several options for making good-fitting M&T joints, but I'll have to admit that I have not established an easily repeatable cutting technique.  Could any of you share how you cut M&T joints in table construction?

If you have sharp chisels for your mortising machine, I'd use that to cut the mortises.  Cut those first.  Then cut the tenons on your table saw using a dado blade.  Sneak up on the fit until they just slip into the mortises, not loose and not so tight that you need to use a mallet.  

That said, I use loose tenons 99% of the time, too.  A router jig works for a few, or a lot, I suppose, but I built a horizontal router mortiser many years ago that makes it fast, accurate, repeatable, and safe.  Quite a few members here on WN have one, too.  Any miter angle, any bevel angle.  It will cut mortises, integral tenons if desired, and a whole bunch more.  It's far cheaper than a Domino.  



You can buy one or build the original model for free.  You can learn more about it here (Link), and also download the free model if you want to build one yourself.  

John

[joe1086]

I' made John's mortising jig and use it quite a bit. I posted here yesterday about the wall unit I just finished. It made quick work....here are the eight door frames.

   

   

[barryvabeach]

Mike,  if you have a mortising machine, use that for the mortise,  I don't so I use a chisel.  If  the tenons will all be the same width, it will take about 10 minutes to make an accurately sized shim for the bandsaw.  The shim is the width of the tenon plus the width of the bandsaw kerf.  ( 10 minutes assumes a few test pieces of shim till you get it so that if you run two cuts on the stock, one with and one without, the part in between is a good fit for the mortise.    I then mark the face side of the stock, hold that up against the fence, and cut one cheek  , use a stop block to stop the cut, and repeat for all stock.  The put the shim against the bandsaw fence and repeat - that gets both sides cut.  If the tenons are all the same height, you can make a different shim for those cuts as well, otherwise you have to mark them.  Once all the cheek cuts are done , reset the fence to cut all the shoulders.  Goes pretty quick.

[jteneyck]

I' made John's mortising jig and use it quite a bit. I posted here yesterday about the wall unit I just finished. It made quick work....here are the eight door frames.

Well done, Joe.  Glad to hear you find it helpful. 

John

[Tapper]

If you have a mortising machine, no reason not to use it on both pieces and use loose tenons to connect the two; pretty easy solution. Another "thumbs up" for John's mortising machine. I have one and have used it sparingly simply because I haven't had a need for many M&T joints lately. When I have used it, it works as advertised!

Doug

[Mike Brady]

Mike,  if you have a mortising machine, use that for the mortise,  I don't so I use a chisel.  If  the tenons will all be the same width, it will take about 10 minutes to make an accurately sized shim for the bandsaw.  The shim is the width of the tenon plus the width of the bandsaw kerf.  ( 10 minutes assumes a few test pieces of shim till you get it so that if you run two cuts on the stock, one with and one without, the part in between is a good fit for the mortise.    I then mark the face side of the stock, hold that up against the fence, and cut one cheek  , use a stop block to stop the cut, and repeat for all stock.  The put the shim against the bandsaw fence and repeat - that gets both sides cut.  If the tenons are all the same height, you can make a different shim for those cuts as well, otherwise you have to mark them.  Once all the cheek cuts are done , reset the fence to cut all the shoulders.  Goes pretty quick.

 That makes sense Barry.  I used a less-refined version of your method once before.  The responses above are great if I was looking at a long horizon ahead for furniture building, but it's late in the game for me.  Hand sawing skills for cutting tenons are not easily acquired.  I agree that my bandsaw is probably the tool for this task.  At least the cuts will have the fence to help maintain parallel cuts.  Blade choice would be important.

[Stwood_]

Table saw for the tenon. Bench top mortiser for the mortise.
Or, drill out the mortise and finish up with a chisel.