How do you Mortise and Tenon?

I’m a bit of a lazy man.

Tenons
Dedicated tenon jig on tablesaw with dado blade
For wide stock I use fence standoff and miter guide

Mortise
Mortise machine, clean up with chisel

My favorite way is to cut the tenons on a table saw, and the mortises with a router/spiral bit. I’ve tried a few of the other methods, and these just seem to work out best for me.

-- I long for the days when Coke was a cola, and a joint was a bad place to be (Merle Haggard)

Same as Nathan on the Tenons and my mortises are done with a mortise bit setup on the drill press.

-- Tim Taylor - GLT Woodworks

Tenons on the table saw or sometimes a router. Mortises by drilling holes and cleaning them up with a chisel. I dream about getting a mortising machine, though.

-- "hold fast to that which is good"

Tenons with a dado blade on the tablesaw. Mortises on the benchtop mortiser.

-- Willie, Washington "If You Choose Not To Decide, You Still Have Made a Choice" - Rush

tctaylor do you have one of those drill press mortise attachments? I was thinking about getting one of those but i would hate to damage my drill press or waste my money. I just do what brandon does for now but I always look for ways to improve.

-- If you can't fix it with a hammer, You've got an electrical problem.

I had been doing the drill holes / follow up with chisels thing on the mortises, but I recently got a mortising machine. I am cutting mortises in things that don’t need them now…

Tenons are done with a dado stack on the table saw. My saw has a sliding miter table and it makes cutting tenons a breeze…

-- Manufacturer of fine quality sawdust since 1984. Comments and advice on my shop welcome. Check it out at http://lumberjocks.com/dbhost/workshop. Gladly accepting shop build donations!

My tenons are done on the table saw AFTER I do the mortises with a plunge router and home made jigs. Up-cut spiral bits seem to be the charm for me. I’m a firm believer in the “sneak up on it” method of fitting the tenons to the mortises.

-- Kinky Friedman on gay marriage: "They should have the right to be just as miserable as the rest of us."

I also use a tennon jig on the table saw for shorter lengths. for longer lengths I use a dado blade in my RAS. I use a dedicated mortice machine for the mortices.

-- www.alanwilley.co.uk

I am with Nathan. There are some that hand cut everything but I let the machines do the work for me. I do the adjustments for the machines.

How do I do it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9vEcesi3H8&feature=related

Loose tenons.

-- When the moderator chooses sides, his site sucks.

Currently working on a maple workbench. Mortises were drilled out at the drill press with a forstner bit and then squared with hand tools. the tenons I have decided to cut but hand and fit with hand tools.

-- My job is to give my kids things to discuss with their therapist....medic20447@gmail.com

Dedicated Mortiser.

I cut tenons several ways, depending on the size, speed needed, and degree of accuracy.

If I need pure speed and the size is small…i use the band saw. Works great, but not very accurate.

If I have medium size and need for speed, but I also need some level of accuracy, I used the miter gauge and dado head with a sacrifice fence on the table saw.

If I have a lot of tenons to do and they are the same size, and accuracy is critical, I break out the tenoning jig and set it up!

All three serve their purpose.

Loose tenons milled on router table mortises made on horizontal router table.

-- Larry "Work like a Captain but Play like a Pirate!"

I use my Benchtop Mortiser for making the mortises, and my Unisaw for making the tenons.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker