Tidying up tenons.

[Pete Hotard]

I'm about to take on a dinner table project for a friend. Kind of a rustic farm table thing...all the rage right now. Wanting to do some breadboard ends. Was just wondering if y'all could offer some tips for cleaning up my tenons without the aid of a shoulder plane. I have is a good set of chisels and a #4 smoother. No table saw or super fancy equipment access. Thanks

If y'all haven't figured it out by now, I work nights, hence all the 3 am postings. Haha

[Brian Kent]

I have found an Old Woman's Tooth router plane one of the most useful home-made tools. Here is a simple tutorial:http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/OldWoman'sTooth.html

I really like it for cleaning up tenons.

[Sean Hughto]

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3220/3116549203_f325f28670_o.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3261/3121318003_cf800a599f_o.jpg

By the way, I wouldn't worry about "tidy" (in the sense of looking pretty) so much as well-fitting.

[Zach Dillinger]

Are you looking to clean up the tenon shoulders or the cheeks? A chisel will do the work for you either way, so you should be all set. If you want, you can always make a simple jig to hold one of your chisels so that it acts like a shoulder plane. I believe Lee Valley has something like that, but a block of wood and a wedge will work fine too.

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Pete,

Welcome to the cave by the Creek.

With what you have listed as your assets it seems chisels are the answer.

If you use breadboard ends on projects regularly you may want to invest in a rabbet plane, shoulder plane or a router plane.

How are you cutting the mortise for the end piece?

jtk

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

And don't forget drawbores fix a lot of sins.

[Pete Hotard]

Well, albeit, I am very new to all of this, I have acquired a decent set of tools. I have a plunge router but would love to say i chopped them by hand with a chisel. Invested in a wheel marking gauge and then found a mortise gauge on sale at the local hardware store and couldn't pass it up. So i think I have the layout covered. What im running into now is deciding how big to make them. Working with 1x4 stock so its 3/4" thick. Did a test run yesterday with a 1/2 inch chisel and it didnt leave very much stock on the cheek (proper term?) of the mortise. I tried my 1/4 chisel but don't feel comfortable chopping with it as it felt like it was going to bend on me. I think that 3/8 is about the perfect size, but of course i am up for suggestions, as this will be my first attempt at M&T joinery. I'd rather not invest in a dedicated mortise chisel at the moment simply because I dont know how often i would use it and more importantly, the wife may divorce/kill me if one more box shows up from a woodworking website. What are my options and what size should I go with?

[Zach Dillinger]

Well, albeit, I am very new to all of this, I have acquired a decent set of tools. I have a plunge router but would love to say i chopped them by hand with a chisel. Invested in a wheel marking gauge and then found a mortise gauge on sale at the local hardware store and couldn't pass it up. So i think I have the layout covered. What im running into now is deciding how big to make them. Working with 1x4 stock so its 3/4" thick. Did a test run yesterday with a 1/2 inch chisel and it didnt leave very much stock on the cheek (proper term?) of the mortise. I tried my 1/4 chisel but don't feel comfortable chopping with it as it felt like it was going to bend on me. I think that 3/8 is about the perfect size, but of course i am up for suggestions, as this will be my first attempt at M&T joinery. I'd rather not invest in a dedicated mortise chisel at the moment simply because I dont know how often i would use it and more importantly, the wife may divorce/kill me if one more box shows up from a woodworking website. What are my options and what size should I go with?

Pete, a good rule of thumb when sizing M&Ts is to allow 1/3rd for the mortise width, and 1/3rd each for the cheeks of the mortise. So, you would be looking at about 1/4 for the tenon on 3/4" stock. This can vary, depending on the strength of the chosen wood species, but it is a good general rule.

You can drill out your mortises and then pare to your layout lines. I do that myself sometimes, despite having lots of mortise chisels. Just depends on the situation.

[Prashun Patel]

Pete-
If your mortises are deep, then you might be able to get the best of both worlds:

Plunge route half way and then chop the rest of the way with your chisel. It's nice to have straight side walls for chisel registration.

I think it's a fantastic exercise to trim your tenons with a chisel. It's one of the best ways to become deft with your chisel. Like learning how to saw, it's not easy at first, but practice will make you good at both.

[harry strasil]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?122794-Tenon-Router-Video&highlight=tenon+router

[Joe A Faulkner]

This came up a few weeks ago in a different thread. Paul Sellers has utube that demonstrates how he chops mortises using bench chisels. The key is to have the chisel good and sharp. He notes that he has been doing this for decades with relatively common bench chisels. He also "chops" his tennons, after cutting the shoulders with a backsaw.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_NXq7_TILA

[Pete Hotard]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I have seen Paul's video on chopping mortises...along with just about all of his other ones. I've got a few days off before working this weekend, so if this ice would ever stop falling from the sky I plan on getting out there and practicing all of these situations. I have become rather obsessed with hand tools, but am padding my learning curve with some electric crutches along the way

[Dennis McDonaugh]

I chop them with a mortise chisel after breaking a 1/4 Stanley 720 once. I bought two size Sorbys at Woodcraft and they are solid chisels. I use a Stanley 92 on the tenons.

[Peter Gavin]

You can get a 3/8" Narex Mortise chisel from Lee Valley for $14.50 + shipping. I guess for that kind of money I would prefer to do them correctly.

Peter