Making Tenons and Mortises by Hand!

[jgfore]

OK. I got home from church tonight and decided that I had a few minutes before I needed to get in bed, but the wife and kids are all in bed. Since my shop is in the basement, directly below our bedroom, using any power tools was out. (My wife has been great so far with me buy several big tool purchases, keeping her awake at night would probably bring that to a holt.) Anyway, I wanted to do something to practice for my next project which is a garden bench. This thing is going to have over 50 tenon and mortis joints, so I thought I would knock one out by hand for practice. Using two scrap pieces of 2"x4", I began this little endevour to create a hand made joint.

First, I found that using a copping saw tends to move to much for making a tenon. After swapping back and forth from the coping saw to the hack saw, I finished the tenon. Sadly, it was a little less than perfect ( or maybe a lot less than perfect).

Now on to the Mortise but. I could not turn the drill press on due to the above stated reason, however my cordless drill is pretty quite. Well, this is not as easy as I thought that it was going to be. The only bit that I had which would get me closest to the right size was a 5/8" padle bit which happed to be 18" long. After I busted threw the bottom of the 2"x4" and splintered the other side, and nearly sprained my wrist when I hit the bottom of the second hole and the drill nearly threw me up on the table, I decide that my next big purchase was going to be a Delta Mortise Cutter. I will probably drag my feet on my wife's garden bench until I can get one.

Anyone got any tricks for doing Tenons and Mortises by hand. Other than having a better saw for the tenon and a better bit for the mortises, this much I've got.

Even though it ended badly, I sure enjoyed trying!!

Jeff

[Jonathryn]

I had similar tools, materials, and experiences with my first mortise and tenon. To do it well you need a few Neander tools. For the tenon you need a marking knife, a mortise gauge, a tenon (rip) saw, and a crosscut saw. The mortise gauge marks out where the tenon should be not only on the tenon but also the mortise, and allows you to do that with a fair bit of accuracy. The coping and hack saws are not suitable; the coping saw is not for cutting straight lines, and they both probably had too many fine teeth, making a 12-stroke job a 60-stroke job. I use western-style saws and have an 18-inch tenon filed rip at about 10 tpi. If you use a regular crosscut backsaw from the BORG, you'll be able to do it, but it will take a long time. You may want to invest in a Japanese style saw with rip teeth on one side and crosscut on the other. That way you can cut the tenons with the rip teeth and cut off the cheeks with the crosscut teeth. If you cut the tenon accurately, you won't need to resort to all sorts of shoulder and router planes.

For the mortise, you can use mortise chisels or you can drill and pare the sides with regular chisels. If you're going to hack the mortises out solely with mortise chisels, I have and can recommend a nice set of Narex sash mortise chisels from Highland Hardware. They're very good and were relatively inexpensive. Tools for Working Wood also has a set of Ray Iles "pigsticker" style mortise chisels, but they're pretty pricey. Everyone who has them loves them though.

Alternatively you can use a brace and bit, and pare the sides of the mortise. Braces are everywhere and relatively inexpensive, like $5 at garage sales. I think you can still get bits at the hardware store. This is quiet, quick, and satisfying. Use the "ring trick" to drill a straight hole in the mortise.

Check out the following sites for instructions--they all work:

http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/readarticle.pl?dir=smalser&file=articles_445.shtml

http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/Wood_How_To/INDEX_How_To_pages/Smalser_on_Mortise_and_Tenon_I.htm

http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/Wood_How_To/INDEX_How_To_pages/Smalser_on_Mortise_and_Tenon_II.htm

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/AHandcutMorticeandTenonPrimer-BlindMortice.html

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/Drawboring.html

http://www.logancabinetshoppe.com/1/post/2010/05/quick-tip-6-the-ring-trick.html

Don't give up on the hand tools! I have a lot of corded stuff but now that I know how to use the safer, quieter, more accurate, often quicker, and always more satisfying hand tools, I want to get rid of my table saw. Yes, really.

[jgfore]

Thanks Jonathryn. I knew that the saws and bit that I was using was completely wrong for the job, but I am still in the process of purchasing tolls, and just frankly haven't gotten to the nice hand tools yet. Hearing you say that there are saws that would take a tenon cut down to 12 strokes is encouraging though compaired to my 60. Of course it seemed more like 1,000. I actually have no desire, what so ever to make a mortise by hand, but when cutting just one or two tenons, it seems that I could have them nocked out before I could change my regular TS blade with a dado or get my router out of the box and change bits. Obviously, I would not want to try making all 50 or so tenons on the bench that I am starting with a hand saw (even though it has been traditionally done that way), but for the occational tenon it seems like a VERY IMPORTANT SKILL.

I can not ever imagine wanting to get rid of my TS though. Thats is just taking it tooooo far. lol

Jeff

[wilburpan]

Obviously, I would not want to try making all 50 or so tenons on the bench that I am starting with a hand saw (even though it has been traditionally done that way), but for the occational tenon it seems like a VERY IMPORTANT SKILL.

I don't know exactly what the design of your garden bench will be, but based on your description of 50 M/T joints, I'm going to guess that there are a decent number of slats/stiles or maybe a lattice in the design, in which case, you can speed up the sawing by gang sawing your parts. If you have a number of slats with the same dimensions, you can clamp multiple pieces together to line up the shoulder and cheek cuts and cut them all at once.

But you are right -- knowing how to make a M/T joint by hand is a skill every woodworker should know. It will make your use of machines to make this joint better, as you'll understand it more by making some by hand. Jonathryn has already given you some great advice and resources. My favorite resource for M/T joints is here: http://www.amgron.clara.net/mandtindex7.html . After that, it's just practice.

I'm not going to get rid of my table saw because I don't have one.

[jgfore]

Yes, lots of slats. Actually, there are not that many tenons, becuase the slats slide up into the mortise with a shoulder or check. They just lide up a full dimension. So, I guess that I should say that I have about 50 or so mortises and only a half dozen or so tenons. This will be my first big project, so you can bet I will be posting some pictures along the way to get the more master craftsman's opinion.

Thanks Again.

Jeff

[wilburpan]

So, I guess that I should say that I have about 50 or so mortises and only a half dozen or so tenons.

Just six tenons? You should do them by hand. Get a decent rip and crosscut saws, and by the time you're done with the last one, you'll be an expert on sawing tenons.

The only thing you have to get used to is the heightened sense of awareness to your surroundings from your increased hearing ability, since you won't have made yourself deaf by running your table saw to do this.

[Jonathryn]

One caveat I should add--

I've given examples of probably the most inexpensive ways to do these by hand. You can get a mortise gauge at Harbor Freight for like ten bucks. I don't know what Japanese combo saws cost, maybe $20? You probably already have chisels. A brace and appropriately sized bit will set you back about ten bucks. And so on. But one thing to consider is that all of these tools can be used for other projects--not like special jigs and table saw tenon cutting doodads. And another thing to consider is that if you buy high quality primo expensive stuff, like Lie-Nielsen mortise chisels, or a Medallion Tool works tenon saw, I'd doubt you'd ever regret using the right and best tool for the job, and you'd be able to sell it in a pinch for just about top dollar if you wanted/needed to.

In my experience and speaking solely from my perspective, having the extra space, freedom from fine sawdust particles, making fewer catastrophic mistakes (or making them much slower!), enjoying the work much more . . . all adds up to doing it by hand. Plus the bragging rights. It may surprise you but I even rip boards by hand and flatten stock with a big jointer plane. Try and run a table top through a lunchbox planer. It can't be done!

[jgfore]

It may surprise you but I even rip boards by hand and flatten stock with a big jointer plane. Try and run a table top through a lunchbox planer. It can't be done!

WOW! I have a lot of respect for those master craftsman that have decided to work their craft completely by hand, and not be pressured into the quick and easyer machines. However, I am kind of a cross bread of the sorts. I love power tools AND having the ability to perform the same tasks without them.

I really am a firm believer in fundamintals. One must learn to count before learning calculus. My hats off to you Jonathryn and Wilbur Pan.

Jeff

[RenaissanceWW]

Jeff I am just excited to hear that you thought to try it by hand with all your power tools floating around. Like you I got started with a lot of power tools and there had to be a tool or jig to make every cut. Since I started working by hand however, my work has gotten so much better. It has been said a few times above, but knowing how to cut a joint or flatten a board by hand is a task every woodworker should know how to do even it you will be cutting everything by power from then on. One day a joint will come up that just would take for every to cut by power (compound angle shoulders on a chair rail tenon) come to mind. Unfortunately for your situation, the tips I can offer really center around using the right tool for the job and my esteemed neander colleagues Wilbur and Jonathryn have already covered that. I just wanted to congratulate you for even thinking about cutting a tenon by hand. It took me close to 10 years before I ever tried myself.