I had a bandsaw ... It could have helped with my through-mortises (DOH!)

[Minh Tran]

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I'm aware that there is no way to use a bandsaw to cut a through-mortise unless I cut through a wall. I'd delete this post if I could.
Since I can't, please see the question below.
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Do you folks have any advice for cutting mortises on the tenon for the wedged-tenon mortise-tenon joint (see attached picture)?
The tenon is 3/4" wide by 2" long.

I don't know how wide to make the mortise for the wedge. A 1/4"-wide mortise will leave me with 1/4"-thick mortise walls, which is a pretty thin mortise (and walls). This doesn't sound like a good idea.

I'll also settle for a normal wedged tenon but I'd really like for the stretchers to be removable in case I need to replace it or in case I want to take the bench apart.

[Lee Schierer]

Instead of drilling 4 through-holes (per mortise) and then using the bandsaw to cut out the mortises (which would have taken maybe a couple hours worth of work), I did the (smart) thing and spent (now) 5 days drilling holes and chiseling out the mortises.


How do you cut a mortise with a band saw without cutting through one wall or cutting the blade and rewelding it through one of the four holes and then cutting it again to get the blade out?

[Brian Tymchak]

I'm now better at chiseling out housed/through mortises but I wasted so much time :(.



What Lee said... I can't see how you would close the wall on a mortise after cutting through with a bandsaw with stock that thick.

It shouldn't take all that long to cleanup 8 mortises if your chisels are sharp. Practice makes perfect, as I always heard as a child. Next time it won't take as long. But make sure your chisels are sharp..

[Erik Loza]

The tenon, yes, but not the mortise.

Erik

[Jamie Buxton]

To cut the mortise for the wedge to fit through, it is back to the drill bits. You drill several holes, and clean out the waste between the holes with a chisel. All the holes are drilled at the same angle. That is, the mortise is not wedge-shaped. The bottom of the mortise is concealed inside the table leg, so the mortise does not need to be wedge-shaped.

The mortise for the wedge does not need to be especially clean. In fact, it should be a somewhat loose fit so the wedge slides in easily. So you can afford to do a slap-dash job of chiseling out the waste.

You could square up one end-wall of the mortise, but I find it easier to put a half-round on the tenon. (Less chiseling!)

I shape the wedge so that it is a little humped. I want the wedge to contact at three points: the top and bottom of the wedge, against the leg; and against the stretcher, roughly in the middle of the stretcher. I don't want a situation where the stretcher contact is at the top of the stretcher or the bottom of the stretcher, because that leads a wobbling table.

[Bradley Gray]

I did a project once - 50 guest rooms for a state lodge - the headboards had 10 -15 mortices in both the top and bottom rail to accept slats. I needed about 80 headboards.

I resawed a 1/4" piece off the back, sawed the shoulders with a back saw and drilled out the waste with a forstner bit. The headboards hung on the wall, so I screwed and glued the resaw back in place as if it were a bandsawn box.

[Marshall Mosby]

The walls left would be quite thin, hard to do such a thing with such thin walls. Also since what you will be left with to cut out the mortise will be a very small tenon, I would recommend either using nails in the first tenon-mortise joint or wedges in place of nails. Don't go for adding a wedge on the outside. Put it through the tenon joint. I hope you get what I am saying. I don't know how to explain.