mortise making techniques

[Chris Tsutsui]

For me, a chisel takes too long and requires skill making the mortises, and sharpening the chisels.

I have the latest Delta Hollow Chisel Mortiser that I got with a nice set of Lee valley hollow chisel mortisers from a guy on CL.

I just setup the fence, mark off the mortise area and cut away.

Make sure you cut the ends of the mortises, and then cut away the material between the two ends because if you leave just a little bit of wood to be remove cutting from one end to the other, the bit might not cut straight down.

[Al Navas]

Mark,

Will there also be tenons?


Al

[sean m. titmas]

cutting mortises for doors, tables and other large type pieces i clamp the wood to the table and use a plunge router with the homemade sub base shown below. the bars are T-track from Kreg and are adjustable by way of knobs on the topside.

for smaller, more delicate sized pieces i use my router table with stop blocks to cut the mortises.

also i am designing a jig similar to the wood rat and other jigs that clamp the piece below a table with an adjustable slot for use with a hand held router, guide bushing and a spiral up cut bit.

my goal, when i can afford it, is to purchase a stand alone slot mortiser or the Multi-Router by JDS.

i am try to use slip tenons for my joinery whenever possible because i like process and the freedom it allows with complicated, multi-angle glue-ups.

there is a good article in the latest FWW about mortisers that covers all catagories.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Slots & floating tenons
I made my own slot mortiser using a commercially available X-Y milling table and retro fitted it with lever handles instead of the dials. The tilting power head is a Triton big dog router.

[Mark Kosmowski]

Mark,

Will there also be tenons?


Al

There sure will be. Figure to do those with my RAS. It's the square holes that I'm trying to figure out. The thought of rounding off a tenon seems to me just as problematic as making a square hole.

[Peter Quinn]

There sure will be. Figure to do those with my RAS. It's the square holes that I'm trying to figure out. The thought of rounding off a tenon seems to me just as problematic as making a square hole.

Not sure I agree with you there. A quick set up on the router table with a half round or quarter round that matches the tenons thickness and a few seconds with a chisel/rasp to get the last 1/4", and your done. You have perfect cheeks where the strength and glue bond are and pretty good shoulders too. I've never split a board rounding the tenons, wish I could say the same for chopping mortises square.

[Frank Drew]

I agree with Peter; rounding over loose tenon stock can be done easily by the running mile, if needed, and rounding over an integral tenon isn't much more difficult (maybe a chisel, then a rasp... done and done.)

[Joe Scharle]

I find that rounding over an integral tenon is real quick with a box cutter. And if you're not too precise, you have a nice little glue relief channel.

[Jerry Olexa]

I've done many methods including buying a dedicated mortising machine. I used it so seldom, i sold it last year. When I need to now, I use a plunge router with a simple jig I built that adjusts to size and material.Mortises are an important part of WWing joinery IMHO...

[harry strasil]

George Wilson wants one of No.1, Uses No. 2.

[harry strasil]

And could probably build this bench model. LOL