tenons on long parts

[Bob Riefer]

Hi,
I'm building a double dog crate to make the boss (wife) happy and to dress up the back corner of our living room a bit where the two ugly metal crates currently live. This is also a good chance for me to practice some skills on a project that isn't as critical / fussy, and use up some "laying around the shop" lumber - black walnut top is already glued up, black locust from an unused fence post was milled for the rails, and various shorts of various oaks was milled for stiles and dog doors. Aluminum black balusters from an old deck build will be used in between stiles.

4 square legs will be joined by rails to create the basic frame. Between the rails I will have what I guess would be called stiles to add support and give me a place to swing doggy doors etc.

The crate will be 80 inches wide, so I have 4 long rails (front top and bottom, back top and bottom) prepared.

In my past projects, I have only really cut tenons on parts that are small enough to easily handle on (say) the table saw (or similar).

In this case, I ended up clamping all 4 rails edge-to-edge, clamping on a straight edge, and then plug routing one half of the tenons on one side... then the other side... then flip the assembly over and do the same on the other side.

While this actually worked nicely and all the tenons came out consistent, centered, and needing only minor adjustments with a chisel and scraper card, I was wondering how you all would typically handle this job.

[Derek Cohen]

Tenon saw.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Eisenhauer]

^^^^+1. And use a carcase saw for the shoulder cuts just because I have one :). I bet that was not the answer you were looking for :) :) :).

[Rob Luter]

I use a Tenon saw and clean everything up with a router plane, Paul Sellers style. I used to use a dado set on the table saw but the hand method is quieter and usually faster if you include setup time. Your 80" length might make the saw operation awkward.

[johnny means]

I do all my tenons wirh a dado blade on the table saw. With the workpiece laying horizontal, lwngth is a non factor.

[glenn bradley]

Sice you posted in the Power Tools sub-forum I'll say tenoning jig. Bandsaw, router or dado stack also work.

[Myles Moran]

Depending on the piece size, I'd either make a jig and plunge router mortises to use a loose tenon, or I'd use the edge guide on my router and cut the 4 sides. I've done the later before for bed rails (using both pieces and cutoffs from them to support the router on the narrow edge) but I haven't had a piece to do the first option with yet. The way I see it, by time the extra work in making that jig pays off, I better have a lot of tenons to cut, or I better have a lot of setup time that I'm saving.

The other option is that sweet looking jessem doweling jig I've been eyeing up. Looks like a poor man's domino to me.

[Jamie Buxton]

My old style: shoulder cuts with the table saw, cheek cuts with the bandsaw. My newer approach: Domino.

[Jim Becker]

Band saw for lengthwise cuts and hand saw/plane/chisels to refine them. Use appropriate auxiliary support for the workpieces. Tenons don't need to be "pretty"...they just need to be snug in the mortise and have clean shoulders where the piece meets it's mate.

[Ron Selzer]

radial arm saw with a dado blade set and a stop block
Good luck
Ron

[michael langman]

Bob, I have to do precisely the same thing, except my 2x4's are 65 and 36" long with 3.75 long tenons.

I will do as either Derek orJim have suggested. Probably use the tenon saw if it has the depth.

Not looking forward to the through mortises in the legs. #.5" through.

The last tenons I did on the sliding compound miter saw. Multiple cuts and cleanup with a chisel.

[Thomas McCurnin]

Too long to do in a table saw w/o an accurate sled. Too long to use a tenoning jig on the table saw standing up. Too long for a band saw for (it would be really awkward) but could be done safely with auxiliary support.

I Would do it with a radial arm saw and dado blade if a power tool was required.

The best way would be a tenon saw and split the cheeks with a chisel ala Paul Sellers.

Fun project.

[Jim Dwight]

I would use the RAS with a dado blade and then clean them up with a shoulder plane. That's one of the few things I still use the RAS for. But quite recently I got a domino XL so I would probably just use it now. But I've done a few queen sized beds and used the RAS to make the tenons on the stretchers for the head board and foot board.

I have not had good luck using my sled on the table saw with big pieces.

[Jared Sankovich]

Shaper or tenoner, but I concede that is not typical.

[Rod Sheridan]

Sliding table shaper... Rod

[Jim Becker]

Lots of great methods to do these tenons on long boards...but I suspect that the OP is going to need to use his bandsaw and some hand tools for the task simply because I don't believe he has a shaper and his shop is reasonably compact.

[johnny means]

Lots of great methods to do these tenons on long boards...but I suspect that the OP is going to need to use his bandsaw and some hand tools for the task simply because I don't believe he has a shaper and his shop is reasonably compact.

Clearly, the only option is a new Domino XL.:D

[Jim Becker]

Clearly, the only option is a new Domino XL.:D

I can't argue with that....I spent some quality time with mine today, as a matter of fact. :). But I have one. I'm not sure that Bob does and the boss is waiting for those crates to be built!.

[Derek Cohen]

Good point, Jim. I do a lot of tenon cheek cutting on the bandsaw. The key here, when sawing the end of a long board, would be to position a stop to ensure that you do not overcut the shoulder.

For exact tenon width cuts, one can use a spacer. Work from a reference side ..

https://i.postimg.cc/cHb4C7VG/6a.jpg

Shoulders are easily sawn on a table saw.

https://i.postimg.cc/633pBbbh/8a.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Aaron Rosenthal]

I had to repair 12 tables, and faced the same problem. All the aprons were replaced, and they were 68” long. No way could I do tenons on the table saw, and doing it by hand got old really fast.
I did it on the band saw after all the details were worked out and the stop blocks set up.
Made me realize i wanted a better band saw, as soon as the budget allows.

[Bob Riefer]

Thanks for all the replies! Lots of good tricks and tips that I will definitely steal. :-)

For parts that I can handle more easily, I really like using the table saw with a dado stack installed. I have a quality miter gauge with a longer fence installed, so basically a sled type of setup. I typically try to plan so that as many of the tenons in a specific piece are same as possible so I can batch cut. Therefore, with a little bit of setup time and I can crank out repeatable results very efficiently.

For that setup, I have the work to the left of the blade, and have about 70" of room in that direction. So these 80" rails were a no-go for that option, and would have probably needed some out-support even if the nearby wall wasn't in the way.

In the end, the original approach actually worked nicely. I stacked the pieces on flat, edge-to-edge, and clamped them to each other and to my table. Carefully setting up a straight edge to run the router against (an edge guide would have been fine too, I just worried ) allowed me to cut one side of one end all at once. The assembly of like parts also allowed a nice surface for the router to sit comfortably on.

Then, last night, I just fine tuned tenons with a chisel and scraper card (which I usually do anyways as I like to oversize and sneak up on perfect fit).

All told, for long cumbersome pieces, I think I'd do it this way again. Took me about 20 minutes to cut all 4 of the tricky tenons (and all others for this piece.. over 20 more! can be done on the table saw as a batch) and they were all square, clean, and centered.