mortise first or tenon first

[Jim Colombo]

Which should I do first, the mortise or the tenon?

Thanks,
Jim

[Prashun Patel]

Whichever is harder for you to adjust is what you should cut first.


For me, I prefer to mortise first then do the tenon.

[Andrew Seemann]

Typically I do the mortise first, because it is easier to size and adjust the tenon than the mortise. For convenience, I like to size the mortise to one of my chisels or a shade larger.

[steven c newman]

And, I do the tenons first.....just because it works better for me...tenons are sized to the width of the chisel I would be using...YMMV

[Jim Koepke]

Do it in the order it is said, mortise & tenon. Otherwise we would probably call it tenon & mortise.

jtk

[Derek Cohen]

Do it in the order it is said, mortise & tenon. Otherwise we would probably call it tenon & mortise.

jtk

Mortice first for me. I mark both mortice and tenon with the same gauge, and expect that they will fit from them. However, sometimes you need to widen it slightly (if there is reason to straighten it).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Frederick Skelly]

Whichever is harder for you to adjust is what you should cut first.


For me, I prefer to mortise first then do the tenon.

+1 on both points.

[ken hatch]

Do it in the order it is said, mortise & tenon. Otherwise we would probably call it tenon & mortise.

jtk

JIM,

My chuckle for the day. As good a reason as any for something that makes no never mind,

ken

[Jessica de Boer]

I always do the mortise first because it's easier to adjust the tenon.

[James Pallas]

Which should I do first, the mortise or the tenon?

Thanks,
Jim

Equally well either way.
Jim

[Kory Cassel]

Only matters if you absolutely need to cut one first to figure out the lay-out for the other. My go to is mortise first to use chisel width for size.

[Paul Bent]

It's easier to make a tenon larger than a mortise smaller.

[Kory Cassel]

It's easier to make a tenon larger than a mortise smaller.

I would say it's easier to trim the tenon smaller or pare the mortise larger. LOL Which method are you advocating?

[Simon MacGowen]

Do it in the order it is said, mortise & tenon. Otherwise we would probably call it tenon & mortise.

jtk

It is M&T, not T&M, because someone knew the order of the letters in the alphabet!

Simon

[Phil Gaudio]

I would say it's easier to trim the tenon smaller or pare the mortise larger. LOL Which method are you advocating?

I think he is saying that once you mess up the mortise/tenon fit, its easier to come back and, for example, glue a shaving on to the tenon cheek then to make the mortise narrower.
I think in general, for a mortise made with a mortise chisel and a hand sawn tenon, most folks would advocate doing the mortise first to define the the thickness of tenon you are shooting for. I saw my tenons a little fat and dial in the fit with a router plane. It yields tenon cheeks that are perfectly co-planer to the workpiece. That sort of precision is more difficult to obtain inside a tenon excavation.