Favorite way to cut mortise and tenons

[Van Huskey]

What is you favorite way to produce M&T joints (not floating tenons)?


I tend to like a square chisel mortiser and tenons cut on the band saw but curious how others feel. I have never used a FMT, only seen it demoed and they obviously make it look quick and easy.

[Rick Fisher]

I like to cut a ring around the end of the board for the tennon with the table saw and a miter guage.. It makes a nice clean edge.. Then remove up to the saw kerf with the bandsaw. I use a chisel to make the final fit to the mortise. I have a full size hollow chisel mortiser with a built in X-Y vice which is a real bonus for the mortises..

[Terry Welty]

I use this CMT Tennon cutting router bit to cut the tennon using a home made sled on my router table, then I cut the mortise using a dedicated mortiser with a cross-slide vise. Slick set up!

[Rod Sheridan]

I use a hollow chisel mortiser for the mortise, and a sliding table shaper for the tenon..........Regards, Rod.

P.S. I just realized that with all the new snazzy methods of doing the above, I'm back a hundred years.

[Frank Drew]

I'd rather not use any method that limits the length of the tenon, since length and strength often go together in joinery.

A horizontal slot mortiser is, by far, the fastest and most accurate method I've used to make mortises (I've never used either a Maka or a chain mortiser, though). Angled work is easy, as is mortising the ends of boards of whatever length (try that on a hollow chisel mortiser ).

For the tenon: Dado blades on the table saw with the work run flat, using a sliding table or miter gauge; very accurate and quite fast -- one setup cuts both cheeks and shoulders (vs using a tenon jig).

In my experience, it's then easiest to round the tenon corners rather than chop the mortises square.

[Of course, if you're not working against the clock, then whatever method works is fine, including entirely by hand.]

[glenn bradley]

Tablesaw and tenon jig for tenons, router and chisel for motrise.

[Jim Galvin]

Hollow chisel mortiser for mortises and dado blade to rough out tenons to about 1/32" oversize then pare shoulders & cheeks to fit mortise

[Jamie Buxton]

For straightforward M&T (that is, parts meet at 90 degrees/90degrees)... plunge router for the mortise, and tablesaw for the tenon. I make the cheek cuts with the workpiece standing vertical against the fence. For longer tenons, the bandsaw.

For tricky M&T (odd angles and such, as in chairs)... loose tenons. Plunge router for the mortise, jigged up to provide correct angle.

[Philip Rodriquez]

I use a bunch of methods... I guess it all depends on my mood and how much stuff I have to move around. I have a General mortiser, a Leigh FMT, a nice tenoning jig, hand planes, and chisels. For ease, it is hard to beat the FMT... and I now completely love floating tenons... because the math is so easy!

[Max Coller]

I use an obsidian adze of the appropriate size from my hand-made collection to hollow out the mortise and a sharpened mammoth tusk from a Siberian mammoth I personally found stuck in a glacier to fashion the tenon.

Er, is this too soon in the thread to start that?

Fine. Spoilsports.

I use a tenoning jig on my table saw to cut the whatchamacallits and a hollow chisel mortiser for that other part.

[Leo Vogel]

If I can't use my Leigh FMT, I change projects. Just kidding some, but it is great to use.

[pat warner]

Router & my fixturing for tenons and morticing.

[Neil Brooks]

Pretty, Pat.

Shame to have to hide them ... by assembling the joint

[Lee Schierer]

I cut my mortices frst using a square chisel morticer on my drill press. I cleanup the mortices with a hand chisel and then fit the tenons to them. I make eh shoulder cuts on the tenon first on my table saw and make eh cheek cuts using a tenonning jig on my TS. I get flat sides on the tenons and can tweak the fit to my mortices.

[Sean Hughto]

For the Mortise: pigsticker or hollow chisel mortiser

For the tenon: Handsaw, chisel, and router plane