Tenons-Best Way?

[Ed Gibbons]

I would like to know the method of choice among fellow Creekers for cutting tenons.

Feedback and recommendations appreciated.

Thanks.

[Greg Sznajdruk]

Don’t believe there is a best way, the method to use depends on the size and number of tenons. If small tenons in an Arts & Craft then a horizontal router is what is best for me. Medium tenons generally use the table saw, large tenons on long stock RAS or handsaw and chisel.


Greg

[Myk Rian]

I prefer using my tenoning jig and dado blades. I'm making a flip-top stand for my planer using that method.

[Peter Quinn]

I generally use either a tennoning jig on the TS or a dado set with a miter gauge depending on the factors involved (size, quantity). A well tuned BS with a decent fence is also a good option to consider. I have a slot mortiser, so for me loose tennons are also a frequent option. A plunge router can perform a similar function on smaller tennons, though I rarely use this method since getting the horizontal slot mortiser. And there is always the Domino.

A shaper is also a good tennoning option for a variety of applications, though its cost may be difficult to justify strictly for that purpose if you don't already have one, and it requires some significant training to use safely. A good router table with some of the specialized bits now offered may be a good substitute for smaller tennons made quickly.

I guess in answer to your question "Best way?", it really depends on the size, quantity, frequency of use, and budget. There are a lot of ways to make a tennon. The shop where I work has an automated double ended tennon machine for production runs of herringbone and parquet flooring, it will produce thousands of tennons per hour, but its size and cost would be prohibitive for general use in custom work. At the other end of the spectrum is a good hand saw and a shoulder plane, somewhat slower but equally accurate with practice. So maybe thee "Best" method is the one that works for you?

[Tony Bilello]

I do this so often that changing blades on a table saw takes under a minute and is no longer a PITA.

[Joe Scharle]

Router Boss, Woodrat or router table with this jig. Spiral bits have changed my Methods of Work in many ways.

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/194/RT_Tenon_Jig_2_.jpg

[Scott Brihn]

My method of choice is a router jig like the Leigh FMT or hand sawn with final fitting conducted with the aid of a shoulder plane.

[Mike Heidrick]

What size of tenons and what are you using them for? Floating or traditional fixed tenons? How large a tenon? Rounded tenons or squared? Are you a handtool only guy or do you like power tools? Do you own a router? Table saw and tenoning jig (or other TS jigs)? Router table?

There are quite a few ways to do this depending on what you have, what you are doing, and what you want the end result of all this to be.

I own an FMT, horizontal mortise machine, and the TS and tenon jigs, and am acquiring more handtools everyday and shoulder plane is on my list. I like tools though!
Multirouter if one ever is close cheap and if I can get it before all the other Illinois tool mongers do.

[Kevin Groenke]

Tablesaw, tenoning jig. If odd angles, curves or other complications are involved, it's usually a backsaw or dozuki, chisels and planes.

[John Thompson]

"The best way" IMO is the way you can do them accurately.. with the least frustration and in a reasonable amount of time. If I need one to four.. that for me is a 19 T pull saw. If more I use my 18" band-saw and fence with proper tension.

I have 34 to do this afternoon which will be done on the BS. Let's see... I believe that is over 4 :confused:? After careful though it is over 4... I think :confused:! Yep.. the BS gets the call. :D

Sarge..

[Narayan Nayar]

As everyone is saying, there's no one way, and the "best" way is up to your preferences and skills.

As an example, I just finished this lathe bench, styled loosely after the Holtzapffel:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3528/3297032358_a748abae44.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/etherfarm/3297032358/)

All the joinery for this bench consists of various flavors of M&T:

Mortises:

brace & bit
router
mortise chisel
Domino


Tenons:

handcut
Domino
bandsaw-cut
tablesaw/dado stack cut


For most furniture, I use just the Domino, as it's very quick and easy. For this bench I wanted more substantial joinery for most of the joints, and the Domino was used just to align the two major sections of the laminated top.

All tenons were marked out using a marking gauge and were cleaned up/fitted using a shoulder plane or a rabbeting block plane. And most were drawbored.

For this bench, the easiest tenons were by far the handcut ones, as they required absolutely no setup, the bandsaw being a close second. The easiest mortises were done by a router, but only until 9pm, after which I try to keep quiet in the shop, so I moved on to a brace & bit approach, cleaning up with a wide chisel.

I wasn't intentionally trying to get a lot of coverage of M&T skills here--I just picked a technique which was suited to the pieces being joined (some were very long) and the circumstances (e.g. quiet after 9) and went with it. It helps to have multiple approaches in your mental toolbox.

[Neal Clayton]

if the joints are square, i found router jigs to be the easiest way to get high accuracy, used to have the leigh jig for that purpose.

if the joints are inside cope/stick profiles using the cope cutter to cut the tenon is preferable, imo, since there's one less machine and therefore one less possibility of error.

depends on what you're doing.

[Scott Vigder]

The best method is the one you ultimately feel most comfortable with. I have migrated towards the table saw with a dado blade and good miter gauge ( I like the Osborne).

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I have two methods:
1.) First I cut the cheeks all the way round, then I lay the work flat on the TS and use a Dado then flip and cut the other side. Failure to use a regular blade to get the cheeks cur first always results in blow out.

2.) Cut the cheeks using the milling table of my Slot mortiser and flip the piece. Same issues with blow out inhere. Gotta cut the cheeks first.

I have a tenon cutting tool that lets me adjust the angle and stand the work up on the TS. I have never managed to get that to repeat with the precision I need. It seems that the way I breath changes the thickness of the resulting tenon. And that's just unacceptable.

I have considered using two identical blades with a spacer mounted on an arbor at the same time.

I find the slot mortiser to be more accurate. and easier to set up. the Dado method on the TS is way faster.

But I have pretty much abandoned all Tenons and just make floating tenons and put slots in everything.

When cutting tenons in any two step process you have one very serious factor: Any error you have is likely to be doubled.


If I had a Shaper I'd definitely just mount two saw blades horizontally on thearbor and use a spacer to get the thickness then just wail away with that to make tenons. It'd be fast, deadly accurate, and repeatable.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

"The best way" IMO is the way you can do them accurately.. with the least frustration and in a reasonable amount of time.

Agreed! I'm using my TS and a tenoning jig, for the experience of it. I intend at some point to try out my router table, and after that - who knows? Domino? FMT? there are lots of choices...

[Lee Schierer]

As others have indicated there really is no best way. Choose one that works for you and go for it. For my tools and needs, I cut the shoulder cuts on my TS with a crosscut blade. I cut the cheeks with a Delta tenon jig and a ripping blade. The tenon jig lets me fine tune the fit of the tenon to the mortice. I can also center up the joint if my mortice is off a bit by cutting one side heavier or lighter as required.

I don't like dados or nibbling cuts as well because they tend to leave ridges along the cheeks of the tenon that have to be cleaned up.

[Paul Demetropoulos]

If I have a small number to so I use my radial arm saw with a stop block and cut the shoulders with the bandsaw. Very fast as set up is minimal.

[Rick Fisher]

I love making tennons. No idea why.. Just like doing it. I have a tennon jig which I havent used in years.

I like using a table saw to crosscut the "lines" and a router table to clean them up.

Its one of the reason I love having a Jessem router lift, minimal adjustments take only a second.

Last year, I bought a Domino... I find it lacking compared to a proper mortise and tennon.

[Bob Genovesi]

I use a tenoning jig on the table saw to cut all my tenons. It's quick, easy, repeatable, and it's adjustable. After trying other methods for years I settled on this jig....