Everything I learned in woodworking was from my Grade5 Practical Arts subject many many years ago. Any my teacher then (in a provincial public school) probably learned his craft through hard knocks. So I’ll be asking some basic questions in future threads on techniques (this intro is therefore an advanced apology) as I'm not sure if what I do is right.
First up is mortise and tenon: How do you make one?
1. Do you do the tenon first or the mortise?
[COLOR="Blue"]I aways made the tenon first. No real logic to the order. Just procrastination over the more difficult mortising. Maybe I should make the mortise first so I can adjust the tenon in case I chisel too much on the mortise?
2. On the tenon, do you saw the cheeks first or the shoulders?
[COLOR="blue"]I would saw the shoulders first because the alignment of the shoulder are most critical. Also, easier than the shoulder..again...procrastination
3. I can imagine sawing the tenon’s shoulders on a table saw, but how do you saw the cheeks if you don’t have a bandsaw?
[COLOR="blue"]I do this manually with a backsaw. But considering clamping together a bunch of identical tenons then running them vertically over a table saw. Scary, though!
4. On the mortise, do you drill/router the hole then chisel away? Or is there a quicker/more accurate technique?
[COLOR="blue"]That seems like the thing to do. But open to suggestions.
Re: How Do You Make a Mortise and Tenon?
[HTML]4. On the mortise, do you drill/router the hole then chisel away? Or is there a quicker/more accurate technique?[/HTML]
i still wonder if there is a need to get a morticer/mortiser.
my shop space cannot accomodate anymore tools except maybe for the grizzly 5055x bandsaw...hehe
The devil will find work for idle hands to do.-Morrissey
Re: How Do You Make a Mortise and Tenon?
I make them booth machine cuts and hand cuts.
often I use a router and a jig to cut the mortise and ts with a dado blade for the tenons. cutting whichever I feel like doing first. though I have a tenoning jig for the ts, I cut the shoulders first (though I hardly use it nowadays since the dado blade arrived).
hand work, I do the mortises using a drill to remove most of the waste then pare it clean with a chisel (now with a mortise chisel :D) tenons I use the TS and sneak on to final fit using chisel to pare to size.
got a mortise chisel kit for the dp but hardly use it... never gave it some thought to get a mortiser since I only do M&T in small amounts (up to 12 joints in some projects) production would require it but not for me...
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Re: How Do You Make a Mortise and Tenon?
Subscribed.
This will be a great thread where masters can share expertise on this important joinery technique. Hope you please add more pictures, links and tips.... and of course jigs :).
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Re: How Do You Make a Mortise and Tenon?
got a mortise chisel kit for the dp but hardly use it
Always wondered how a mortise chisel kit worked. Can't wrap my mind around how a rounded drill bit can make square holes!
Here's something sold at sulit. Should be cheap enough to experiment with. Anyone here used it before?
Re: How Do You Make a Mortise and Tenon?
Making M/T is something i enjoy in woodworking, that is working on the details with a lot of challenges. Milling and cutting the woods to size can be done in a breeze with the help of power tools but it is different when it comes to M/T.
This is how i progressed on M/Ts.
1. When I made my first project (a bed), all the Tenons were hand cut using backsaw and chisels while the mortises were pre drilled before paring with chisels.
2. On my coffee table, all the tenons were produced by table saw. I set the height of the saw to the thickness of the cheek and shoulder, put a stopblock by the fence for the depth of mortise then made several cuts along the cheeks and chisel away the wastes followed by a shoulder plane.
3. On my WB, the woods were too large for my TS so i utilized the router to do both the mortise and the tenon. Much cleaner and easier to do. But setting up the router and making temporary templates and guides require a lot of patience too.
I cut the tenon first then transfer the resulting dimensions to the mating piece for the mortise.
Re: How Do You Make a Mortise and Tenon?
[HTML]I cut the tenon first then transfer the resulting dimensions to the mating piece for the mortise.[/HTML]
the opposite world in my case
😉
The devil will find work for idle hands to do.-Morrissey
Re: How Do You Make a Mortise and Tenon?
On my coffee table, all the tenons were produced by table saw. I set the height of the saw to the thickness of the cheek and shoulder, put a stopblock by the fence for the depth of mortise then made several cuts along the cheeks and chisel away the wastes followed by a shoulder plane.
Pardon me for being thick. How did you cut the cheeks with a TS? If the tenon were lying flat on it's long side, the cut would not be the same for top and bottom because the blade is a circle. Or do you make a cut on one side up to the shoulder, flip it then cut on the other side up to the shoulder also, cut the cheek, then chisel off the curved triangular leftover? Or do you boldly run the tenon vertically (standing on it's end) on the TS?
Re: How Do You Make a Mortise and Tenon?
Hey guys this pertains to all of you discussing making tenons and mortises. So sorry for the ignorance in woodworking coz every time I read this thread or other threads concerning woodworking I would sometimes if not often would get lost in your use of terminologies like dados, mortises, tenons and others. :confused:
I would feel very small watching your finished projects or just looking at your woodworking studios and viewing your clamps, vises and other woodworking tools. Maybe if you guys were discussing something related to metal working or so I may be able to contribute or share something beneficial, but for wood working stuffs, huh nothing really, just nada. 😮
Maybe for the meantime I'll just content my self by just following the wood working threads and try learning from it and also learning from you guys mastering the craft. :p
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Re: How Do You Make a Mortise and Tenon?
... Or do you make a cut on one side up to the shoulder, flip it then cut on the other side up to the shoulder also?
yes the workpiece is lying horizontally on the table, the protrusion of the saw blade on the table is slightly lower than the waste per cheek so you can still clean the cheek by using shoulder plane or pare it with chisel. Make several cut so that the waste parts remaining on the cheek will be minimal and easy to clean. Repeat this process on the other cheek and on the shoulders..
the picture below is my first attempt of making tenon on my old table saw, you can still see the marks left by the saw blade. My old table saw had some alignment issues so I reverted back to manual process after this one.
Re: How Do You Make a Mortise and Tenon?
and here's my first mortise before joining PHM. Made several holes using hand drill with shopmade drill stop, finished with chisel.
