Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 16 to 20 of 20

Thread: Mortise and tenon questions / musings

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Longview WA
    Posts
    27,347
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Carey View Post
    Great idea Jim - I'm gonna try it. Not so much for mortises made on the machine, but hand cut ones for sure.
    When using smaller mortises a test tenon can be made:

    Test Tenon.jpg

    This allows every mortise to be checked for fit and square before cutting all the tenons. Of course, if a person cuts tenons first, maybe a test mortise would be in order.

    This was done on a project with 24 mortise & tenon joints > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?262272 < It is holding together fine with draw bore pins and no glue.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    South Coastal Massachusetts
    Posts
    6,824
    I check the sides of the mortice for alignment using a
    4 inch machinist's double square. I run the square along the sides, feeling for deviations.

    It is set longer than the tenon by a 32nd of an inch.
    (Coupla spillameters)

    *****

    I make each tenon as I go, fit to a specific mortice.

    https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/h...se-and-tenons/

    (Link to Ian Kirby article)

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    twomiles from the "peak of Ohio
    Posts
    12,120
    Hmm..I seem to do things a bit....differently.

    I mill the tenons first....THEN use the tenon to lay out the mortise. then chop the mortise, aiming for a snug fit. Seems to work better for me. YMMV

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
    Location
    Central New Jersey
    Posts
    57

    I use a guide

    I am fairly new at this so I use a guide to chop the mortise and a router plane to surface one face of the tenon. If you work from the reference face on both the mortise piece and tenon piece they come together flush and without twist.

    I found this method at https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/videos/door-making/
    IMG_0836.jpgIMG_0843.jpgIMG_0842.jpg

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Austin Texas
    Posts
    1,957
    Jim - As I said above, a router plane does indeed create coplanar tenon cheeks, but the use of a router plane for final thicknessing can slow the whole operation down. If one can achieve the same result (correct thickness w/o a twist) with a chisel alone, it should go quicker. When considering the typical size (not all that large in reality) of my furniture-tenons, I found as I got better at sawing out the initial tenon profile, the less need I had for use of anything besides the chisel that I was going to use anyway to clean out the debris at the base of the tenon cheek where it meets the shoulder. For me, larger tenons will cause me to reach for a router plane more so than my more normal sized tenons. Again, using a router plane does result in a great tenon, but (IMO) does slow things down.
    David

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •