Methods for cutting tenon shoulders

[Anonymous]

I just mark out the tennons from the face side with a motrrice guage, and rip the cheeks first. I sometimes use a sharp knife (opinel) along the try square to score the shoulder lines and then cut another wedge shaped sliver along it so the saw drops into a nice vee, then that gives a crisp edge and a guide for the tennon saw. I always do them by hand at the mo. If theres any need for adjustements I use a 2 inch chisel

 

[dedee]

Here's how I did some on some cedar last year.

It is important not to turn the secondary fence over half way though as the resulting tenons will be a different sizes DAMHIKT!

With the cedar being so soft the waste just snapped off with just light finger pressure.

Cleaning the rough spots on the tenon with a chisel. The shoulders were all very clean straight from the saw although I think I went too far with the shoulder depth.

Andy

 

[ByronBlack]

I have nothing to offer this thread i'm afraid. But I wanted to thank everyone who took the time to post pictures, and their techniques, this is very handy for me personaly!

 

[MarcW]

ByronBlack,

Let me add some pics more, 'cause I always feel so out of balance making a tenon without a mortice :lol: :wink:

But first a pic of my two new benchdogs, they are a little softer at touch nevertheless really biting at the end \/ Thanks Rob for giving good advice to replace the existing metal versions :wink: :

So here a first mortice variation, haunched and rabbeted

Then some tenon pics from marking to cutting:

Controlling a cheek for parallel to the rail's face with a combination square:

Finally some pics showing off mortising from setting the marking gauge over chopping to measuring squareness to the work:

Hope you enjoyed,

Marc

 

[Paul Chapman]

Very nice set of pictures, Marc.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[AHoman]

Marc,

Brilliant photos again!
I would like to ask, what are the advantages of the haunched + rabbetted mortise and what would you use it for?

Also admired your bench dogs -- they look like they like to have a job to do! (whether or not you want them to do it?)
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Andy

 

[Mittlefehldt]

Andy, I am sure MArc will contribute an answer to your question, but I can give you one use. Last year I made a screen door for my modest domicile, and I did the mortises and tenons, including the cross piece in the centre of the door, and not thinking it through clearly enough I ended up having to cut stopped rabbets in the inside of the door to accept the screens.

It involved doing blind rabbets and not a little bit of blue air. I thought about it for some time afterwards, mostly when I was sitting on the back deck looking at it through a glass of local vin du pays, and worked out, (in my head that is) pretty much what Marc illustrated. Doing it that way I could have done through rabbets and then joined them together with little fuss, it would be much easier than what I did, and doubtless would have looked better.

Thanks Marc for posting that as it validates what I figured out and since you did it first I can see it better in my head now to.

As to the original question I do it all by hand, because that is what I want to do. I recently built a closet organizer that involved forty two mortise and tenon joints, 2.5 inches long X 2 inches deep X .5 inches wide. The first mortise took me near half an hour, the last six less than an hour.

James

 

[MarcW]

Andy,

The combination of a haunched tenon and a rabbet not rabbeted as I wrote is indeed unlucky. A haunched tenon prevents the rail to distort but lets enough wood above the mortice, so the end will not crack.

I rabbeted the whole frame (actually 4 ) in order to install T&G boards to fill in and didn't consider that the haunch would be half useless because the rabbet allows to make leeway at one side.

I use haunched mortises, when the tenon is not that wide and I risk distortion so a rail could move and so not stay anymore in the same plane as the style.

Marc

 

[Anonymous]

1b

plane a small chamfer at the end of the shoulder to prevent breakout