Cutting Tenons

[Richard Bistline]

What is the best way to cut tenons? I have never made any, but I am about to try. I would appreciate any advice that you could give me. Thanks, Richard

[Don Bullock]

Good question. I haven't done any in a ling time and am looking forward to perfecting the art. As far as I know there are several ways to cut them. Some use a table saw, some a band saw, others use a router and there are those who use hand saws and planes. I'll be interested in seeing the responses, but I would suggest that you consult some books on woodworking too. There are many out there.:D

[Mike Henderson]

For regular straight tenons, I cut them on a table saw with a sled, dado blades and a stop block. I make them a bit larger than the mortise (I should say "tight" rather than "larger") and do final trimming by hand with chisels.

For complex tenons (any kind of angles) I use a tenon jig on the table saw.

Mike

[Mike Leone]

I use a tennoning jig on a uni takes about a minite or two to make a tennon. fist cut the mortises with a plunge router then do the tennons.

[Rod Sheridan]

I cut tennons in the following manner;

1) cut shoulders on the tablesaw with a sled, stop, and crosscutting blade

2) cut cheeks with a rip blade and a cast iron tenon jig

3) trim the sides of the tenon back to the shoulders with a fence on the band saw.

Rod.

[Jim Podsedly]

How do dowels hole up in lieu of the standard mortise and tenon joint?

Or biscuits?

Is the glue good enough that these two techniques would work?

I will be starting a student desk soon and will be using mortise and tenon joints - probably.

Could you use a drill press with a forester bit to cut the mortise and then chissels?

These are all crazy ideas popping in my head! :D

Jim

[pat warner]

Can be routed (http://patwarner.com/images/index_tenon.jpg), does require semi - special cutter and jig.
But tenons in picture were straight off the cutter, no trimming after the routing.

[glenn bradley]

I use a tenon jig on the TS for short pieces. TS for the shoulders and BS the cheeks for longer length stock. Like Mike said; go larger and pare down by hand.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Or you can skip the tenon and proceed to loose tenons.

I have no information whether one is stronger than the other. But they seem equally sturdy.

[glenn bradley]

How do dowels hole up in lieu of the standard mortise and tenon joint?

Or biscuits?

There was a Wood Magazine (I believe) article on this. IIRC, properly proporitoned M&T without a peg was the strength winner. Seems to me this was posted out on the web somewhere . . . Oh yeah:

http://store.woodstore.net/november173.html

The free article has been pulled. Looks like you might have to buy the back issue if you like.

[Sue Wise]

I have been using my homemade tablesaw jig which I made last weekend. But I have also used a table mounted router.

[Cliff Polubinsky]

Jim,

Drilling and chiselling the mortise is one of the standard methods. I took the Joinery class at Marc Adams school last year and that was one procedure we used. Works well.

And as Cliff mentioned, loose tenons are a easy was to go. Cut the mortice with your router and then cut your tenon stock to size on your TS and round the edges with a roundover router bit or a rasp.

Cliff

[Bruce Wrenn]

FWW has a video, "Twelve Ways to Cut Tenons". So I know that there are at least 12 ways to cut them. The best is the one you feel comfortable doing.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Can be routed (http://patwarner.com/images/index_tenon.jpg), does require semi - special cutter and jig.
But tenons in picture were straight off the cutter, no trimming after the routing.

CMT is now offering a tenon bit kit.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=B000MQKBAG%20&tag=wwwemcadjusti-20&index=blended&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325

I am very interested in this set myself. I think I'll just go ahead and pull the trigger so I can answer any questions on how they work . . . :)

[Pete Bradley]

What is the best way to cut tenons?

I used to machine them on a router table, but I've found it far faster to cut them on the band saw. The trick is to have a block that is exactly the desired thickness of the tenon plus the thickness of the blade kerf. I make the first cheek cut with the block between the workpiece and the fence. Then I pull out the block and cut the other side of the tenon. The top and bottom cuts are much less critical and are generally done against the fence, either resetting the fence or just using spacers..

I make the shoulder cuts with a miter gauge that has a stop block attached. The end of the workpiece needs to be dead square to insure that all the shoulders match exactly. The whole process takes just minutes.

If anyone's interested, I can post some pictures.

Pete