Easiest way to create Mortise and Tenons

[Michael Furey]

So I'm new to making mortise and tenon joints and recently attempted my first one. I'm doing these for breadboard ends on table tops with 1 1/2" thick doug fir. I used my fixed base router with a 3/4" x 1/2" deep straight cut bit for the tenon and a 1/2" x 2 1/2" straight cut bit for the mortise by doing multiple passes. Like I said, it worked, but it wasn't pretty. I used a straight edge clamp to guide the router on the table top which was about 36" wide for the tenon and then made a basic DIY router table by just mounting it upside down on a piece of plywood and using my saw horses to do the mortise (raising the bit higher in small increments). My question is...are there any jigs/tools out there that you would recommend to make this process much easier that also won't cost a million dollars to purchase? I would like to keep the joint hidden, however I'm not opposed to it being visible on the side either.

[scott vroom]

I started a similar thread recently....this may help: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?228092-Alternatives-to-mortise-and-tenon-for-small-furniture-build&highlight=

I ended up buying a plunge base and a guide fence attachment for my old Porter Cable 690 router for the mortises; I used my table saw for the tenons.

[Cary Falk]

Tenons on the table saw and the mortises using a bench top mortise.

[Michael Furey]

Any other ideas for the tenons? I'm going to be doing it to 36" - 44" table tops that will already be glued up and it will be pretty difficult to do it on a table saw.

[Charles Taylor]

Any other ideas for the tenons? I'm going to be doing it to 36" - 44" table tops that will already be glued up and it will be pretty difficult to do it on a table saw.

Jigs can be made for the table saw that will hold a panel vertical and ride the fence for reference. Or you can use a dado blade and run the table top horizontally. Personally I've used a router and a straightedge just like you did for a breadboard tenon, with a shoulder plane to arrive at the final fit, and I've been happy with the results.

Either your router or a hollow chisel mortiser is the fastest relatively low cost way to make mortises. I have both, and the router would be my choice hands down for a long mortise such as for a breadboard end.

[Mike Henderson]

Tenons on the table saw and the mortises using a bench top mortise.
I'd change that to "Tenons on the table saw and mortises drilled out on the drill press, then cleaned up with a chisel."

Mike

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Michael, welcome to Sawmill Creek.

I make mortises with a hollow chisel mortise and tenons on the shaper.

Regards, Rod.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Any other ideas for the tenons? I'm going to be doing it to 36" - 44" table tops that will already be glued up and it will be pretty difficult to do it on a table saw.


Oh, yeah...You got a router? In which case - breadboard ends for a 5/4 x 44" x 84" table top..............

I clamped the heck out of the top, to be sure it was flat and level. I had to drill holes in the TS table to mount the receiver bolts for Jorgy Hold-Down Clamps - those critters are great. The receiver bolts drop down below the table surface when not in use - grab a stick and whack them from underneath to pop them up to use.

MDF spacer/waste strips, to be sure the router is always supported level on both sides of the cut.

EDIT: Oh - an unsolicited product plug - my PC 69x is mounted on a dust-collection base from Betterly Industries - those things work great - all the waste up the chute into the hose, over to the Fein III. LOve their products - absolutely love them.

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Glued/screwed an MDF "fence" to one board - and used that fence to cut a straight/parallel edge on that support board. Use the fence as the buide for hte router.

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First pass - pegged the meter on the "Pucker Factor", but it went just ducky.
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MOved the main support board a bit, and clamped it down. Make another pass with the router.
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Keep moving the router out - and the outboard support also - notice I jammed various pieces of stuff between the support fence and the router - whatever was handy, as long as it was all the same dimension.

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Done with the first pass - notice that I am not yeat at the final depth - gotta do it all over again in the 2d pass.

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Hot Damn!! First of four is done. Rinse. Repeat.
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[Kent A Bathurst]

And now - the rest of the story........


Layout tenons. Notice there is about 1/2" of the main tenon that is not marked out - that stays.

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Whack away. Looks like an Adria RIp, an LN X-cut, a PC 548 bayonet saw, and variouss other stuff. Notice the 1/2" running tenon, side-to-side, that is still there.
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Clamp up the 2 breadboards, with a wide spacer in the middle, to route for hte 1/2" running tenon.
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Route the groove to receive the running tenon.

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Layout the true tenon locations on the breadboard ends.

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Use your weapon of choice to cut the true tenons. Me? Ima gonna use my PM 719 Mortiser.

I put chalk all over the assembly, so I could track the progress as I planed the breadboard to match. Mister #3 Bronze in play.

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Keep at it, with whatever weapons you have in the arsenal, to get the breadboards flat with the table top.

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[Bill Graham]

So I'm new to making mortise and tenon joints and recently attempted my first one. I'm doing these for breadboard ends on table tops with 1 1/2" thick doug fir. I used my fixed base router with a 3/4" x 1/2" deep straight cut bit for the tenon and a 1/2" x 2 1/2" straight cut bit for the mortise by doing multiple passes. Like I said, it worked, but it wasn't pretty. I used a straight edge clamp to guide the router on the table top which was about 36" wide for the tenon and then made a basic DIY router table by just mounting it upside down on a piece of plywood and using my saw horses to do the mortise (raising the bit higher in small increments). My question is...are there any jigs/tools out there that you would recommend to make this process much easier that also won't cost a million dollars to purchase? I would like to keep the joint hidden, however I'm not opposed to it being visible on the side either.

Your method is sound but I'd use a downshear mortising bit in a larger diameter for the tenon, something like the Freud 16-122 (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2/179-6645251-0338444?url=search-alias%3Dtools&field-keywords=Freud%2016-122) or their 16-522 (http://www.amazon.com/Freud-16-522-64-Inch-Bearing-Mortising/dp/B0002TUA0Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1429830138&sr=1-1&keywords=Freud+16-522). Take a light first pass and then hog away. Mortising bits are made for this kind of cut, straight bits aren't. The downshear angle makes sure there's no tearout on the face of the work, use a backup piece of scrap on the exit end to prevent tearout there. As Kent pointed out, you need to clamp the bejeebers out of the top so it's dead flat while you're cutting the tenon, not doing so can leave you with results that are "less than pretty".

For the mortise I'd use a carbide up-spiral straight bit like the Whiteside RU5100S (http://www.amazon.com/Whiteside-Router-Bits-RU5100S-Diameter/dp/B000K2BGV0/ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1429831320&sr=1-2&keywords=Whiteside+Ru5100), clamp two straight pieces of at least 6/4 stock on either side of the work for a good routing surface and use two edge guides on the plunge router to center it. Take it to full depth in 1/4" passes and you have your mortice at 1" depth, if you need more tenon in places(as in Kent's excellent example) you can change to a longer bit and rout deeper where needed. When you're finished, flip the router and edge guides 180 degrees and run a quick pass to make sure the mortise is centered.

Cut the mortice before the tenon and cut the tenon to fit.

And clamp the pieces absolutely straight before you start cutting(repeating myself but this is really important).

I suggest you visit Pat Warner's website (http://patwarner.com/) and strike up a conversation if you're seriously interested in getting the best out of your routering. He's a great guy and you can learn a lot from him. He's also a member here.

HTH,
Bill

[James Zhu]

This is where Domino XL shines, it could be done in a few minutes with 100mm or 140mm tenon.

[Jim Matthews]

Cut "pockets" in table top, where you want tenons.

My Mentor came up with the method that follows...

Routers excel at excavating flat surfaces.
Cut "tongues" of straight grain pieces of the same material
to fit snugly in the "pockets".

Glue and screw in place.

To cut the motises with your router, find a way to fix the breadboard
end rotated 90 degrees, so the "table side" flat face is up.

As shown in Kent's method above - keep the router upright for greatest stability.
The important dimension in the breadboard part of the assembly is the "height"
of the pocket to keep the mating tongue in a single plane.

The tongues must slide laterally through the Seasons, without slop.

*********

Were I to do this, I would make the breadboard of three laminated pieces,
and face the end with a strip of hardwood to match the top.

The appeal of the applied tenons (tongues) is that if one doesn't fit the mating mortise,
isn't wide enough or fails in assembly - it's easily replaced.

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[Mike Schuch]

The tenons are one place where radial arm saws really excel. For a 36"-44" top I would have to cut the tenon half way through using a dado blade then rotate the board 180 degrees and cut the other half of the tenon. I have done it like this many times and it works well. This cut is a great test for how good you are at aligning your radial arm saw. If the table on the RAS isn't parallel to the arm the tenon will not be of uniform thickness. I only made that mistake once about 25 years ago with my Craftsman RAS. When I bought my 1947 Redstar 16" RAS I aligned the table to the arm and have not had to worry about it since.

For the Mortise I would use a plunge router and then square the mortise up on the mortiser or with a hand chisel. It would take all day to cut a 42" mortise with my bench top mortiser... a plunge router would be much faster! I would probably joint a couple 2x4's flat then clamp them together with the bread board stock between them to give my router a table to work on. I would then clamp an appropriate edge guide to one of the 2x4's. If the bread board end were under 30" I would just clamp the bread board end in the Workmate and clamp the edge guide to the top of the workmate... that would make for a really fast easy operation.

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