mortise and tenon jig?

[Alan Lilly]

Does anyone have experience with these mortise/tenon jigs?

http://www.leighjigs.com/fmt.php ($729 stating Jan 1, 2008)
http://mortisepal.com/ ($189)
http://woodrat.com/ ($689)
http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product_details.cfm?offerings_id=11367 ($299)
http://www.festoolusa.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=15&prodid=574258 ($700)
http://www.dowelmax.com/ ($279)
http://www.jdstools.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=12 ($2750)

Did I miss any, aside from making my own jig?

I am intrigued by the mortise-pal (even though it doesnt do tenons). I prefer the fmt, but it is kinda pricey.

[Tim Sproul]

I love my FMT.

[George Bregar]

For the prices of the woodrat and fmt you can get a Delta tenon jig for the TS, and a mortiser.

[Lance Norris]

For the prices of the woodrat and fmt you can get a Delta tenon jig for the TS, and a mortiser.

The Grizzly is the same and is cheaper.

[Mike Cutler]

Alan

Of the four you have listed I own the Delta Tenon Jig and have made 100's of tenons with it. It is what it is, and works very well. You do have to ensure that the face of the jig is parallel to the blade. Don't assume that it is.
The jig also has some slop in the miter slot. According to Delta this is to allow you to retract the material back through the blade and not make contact.
At least, that's the answer they gave me. I never bought that answer and use a the page of a magazine to tighten the miter bar in the slot.

I know that there are a lot of clones of the Delta Tenon jig out there, and I'm certain that they all work as well, but the differences I've noticed are in the weight. I have the second generation Delta jig, and it weighs ~20lbs. The clones I've seen weigh less. The greater weight equals more stability.
The original version of the Delta tenon jig weighs close to 35 lbs,and sell for big$$$ ,used, when they appear on eBay.

The FMT is an amazing fixture. It is extremely well made and can be hyper-accurate. I don't own one, but have used one.
Given that the 'Rat and the FMT are very close in price. I would probably go for the 'Rat. It seems to be more versatile that than the FMT,and does other joints besides the M&T.
Maybe Tim Sproul can expound a bit more on the FMT. He owns one and would have alot more experience with it. I know I'd like to know more about it.

John Lucas is a member here on the board and has a website that provides reviews in a photo essay format. Here is his article on the WoodRat.

http://www.woodshopdemos.com/wr-1.htm

The Mortise Pal looks interesting. This is the second time I've seen it here on the board. It looks like it would be very functional on material of a size that may not fit into the WoodRat or the FMT.

[Jim Podsedly]

The Grizzly is the same and is cheaper.


I have the grizzly and I am happy with it. Don't use it often but comes in handy when I do need it.

Jim

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

You can make Tage Frids jig
http://tinyurl.com/yvnntz


Googling around will uncover a plethora of jugs some fancy some basic.

[Tim Sproul]

For the prices of the woodrat and fmt you can get a Delta tenon jig for the TS, and a mortiser.

For the price of a benchtop top mortiser, you could get a really nice tenon saw - say a Lie Nielsen - and a pretty darn good 1/4 inch mortise chisel - say a Ray Iles.

I didn't get the impression that they were asking for the least expensive way to get the joint done.

The FMT is expensive. You get what you pay for. Accuracy is very impressive. It is fast - even including set up time. Part of the speed comes from the ability to cut the tenon and matching mortise using the same set up - just lift the router slightly and drop the subbase guide pin into the inner groove of the template to rout the mortise instead of the tenon. It is flexible - angled joints and such are possible, albeit you'll likely need to build some fixtures to help out. It is only as good as you. You need to be able to feed the FMT 4-square sticks. You need to be able to set the fence square to the table - this is probably one part that could most use improvement. You need to be able to set stops accurately. You need to be able to dial in the slop so the tenon has a hand closable piston fit. Etc. Once these things are done, you can mill 10 ten joints for each one done using the table saw tenon jig and the benchtop mortiser. And the fit of the FMT joints won't require further work.....tenon jig/mortiser joints almost always require a bit of fine tuning with hand work, IME.

If the budget doesn't allow for something like an FMT, the tenon jig and mortiser are good options. Hand saw and chisel are also very good. Once you get enough skills, hand tooling can be fairly quick.

[George Bregar]

The OP asked for other options, and brought up price. I simply provided both. You will be hard pressed to beat the tenon jig/mortiser combo for speed, and it is accurate. Great flexibility including length of tenon and depth on mortise. Failings would be angled tenons/mortises, but these are not very common and can be accomplished with a jig for the mortises, and a miter fence and dado stack for the tenon.

Oh, add through-tenons. Unless you want some rounded I did them with a router look.

[richard poitras]

Alan here is a couple of things to think about? The last time I looked at the Trend jig (a few years back at one of the wood shows ) it was a metric set up so if you are not familiar with metric it might not be a good fit(worked go in the demo). As far as the Mortise Pal it looks pretty cool it reminds me a lot like the Dowel max jig (I have one and like it) the other two I can’t comment on. Good luck …

[Jim Kountz]

You can make Tage Frids jig
http://tinyurl.com/yvnntz


Googling around will uncover a plethora of jugs some fancy some basic.

Yeah you are right Cliff but I dont think the OP was talking about XXX sites! LOL

:D:D

[Alan Lilly]

The domino looks like a good option, but I wonder if it could be used for larger furniture like a bed?

[Jamie Smith]

Did I miss any, aside from making my own jig?


The multi-router ;)

http://www.jdstools.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=12

[Alan Lilly]

Clearly the multi router is probably the best of the bunch, but it has a price tag to match (well over $2000). I wish I were rich.

[Ted Christiansen]

You can make Tage Frids jig
http://tinyurl.com/yvnntz


Googling around will uncover a plethora of jugs some fancy some basic.

I made my own version of this jig with integrated clamps and stop blocks and it works well. I use a tenoning jig on the TS to make the tenons.

Ted

[Gary Curtis]

I own a WoodRat. To justify the expense you would need it for more than just Mortise and Tenons. Assuming that you are trying to keep the cost down.

Since about 2005 when I started viewing WW forums, a lot of folks have said wonderful things about the Leigh FMT. The Domino would seem to be attractive if you needed portability. And smaller sized tenons.

Gary Curtis