mortis and tenon help

[scott stonestreet]

i am building timber frame beds, and i am needing to know how to make large mortis and tenon joints, i was using a chain mortiser and me and my partner split, and now i dont have one, i am making tenons about 5 in deep by 3 in wide, any help would be great,

thanks, scott

[Frank Drew]

Scott,

If you won't have access to some type of large mortising equipment, and assuming you want to use power equipment where possible, I think you'll have to drill out most of the waste of the mortises then clean up the cuts with chisels. Can you get the pieces to be mortised up on a drill press table (if you have a drill press)? If not, then a slow speed, heavy duty drill, like the Milwaukee Hole Shooter, could handle large bits and tough drilling. I've found that sawtooth machine bits are good for this kind of work -- aggressive but reasonably precise.

As for the tenons, if you have to do the work by hand (i.e. no radial arm saw, no sliding table saw), then careful layout and a good skilsaw plus chisels will do it.

[scott stonestreet]

hay Frank thanks for the info, i dont know that much about bench top mortis mech, if that would do the job... i dont mind to spent a couple hundred bucks on one if that would work.