Cubbie

Greetings all,

I'm pretty new to woodworking in general, and I love the idea that I can do so much with a router that it became the second power tool I aquired, after a miter chop saw.

I have a few projects I want to build that I found in a book, the first being a bed. The book presumes that you know a few techniques already, one of which is making mortises and tenons. The mortises they show are easily made with a router and a spiral cutting bit (giving the mortise rounded corners).

The part I'm not sure about is how they made the tenons. Obviously, the long sides can be made with a straight bit and multiple passes, that's not the problem. What I'm not certain about is how they get the rounded ends on the tenon, and how to make them match the radias of the mortise.

I thought that one could make a jig and a guide bushing to achieve what I needed. The problem though is that one a long piece of material, one would have to make it while the piece was horizonal, meaning routing on the side which I question how safe that would be.

I looked at one setup and found it was prohibitively expensive for a hobbyist, so I'm looking to see how others have tackled this technique.

There seems to be a easy way out, but I'm not sure how well it will work on something I want to last at least 25+ years.

Thanks for any ideas!

Christopher.

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Mike

Christopher, There is no need to round the end of the tenon unless it is a through tenon that will show. For most construction you can make a cut on the ends to leave a small shoulder. This way the mortise will be covered, nice clean looking joint. If you are concerned over the strength of the joint you can either round the tenon or square the joint with a small chisel. Some people like to pin the tenon by running a small dowel through the middle. This adds a nice decorative touch if you use a contrasting wood color. Another solution is to use free floating tenons. To do this you first make your tenon and round the edges with a bullnose or roundover bit. Then you cut mortises in both pieces. Glue and clamp and you are done. There is also a bit you can buy at Rockler and other sites called Beadlock. This cuts tenons that look like a stack of dowels. To make your mortises you simply drill holes. Click this link to view:
http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product...8&filter=tenon
Many solutions, let us know which you choose.

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Mike

template tom

Mike has given some good advice re floating tenons. see enclosed site re making Jig to complete the mortice and tenon
http://www.wa1.quik.com.au/tod/6_mor...enon_joint.htm
Tom

Woodnut65

Hi: The tenons can easily be rounded with a chisel, it does not have to be exact
as it will not add or subtract from the strength of the joint. I sometimes make the tenons on my table saw and use the chisel to fit them into a the router mortise.
One one of the shows with Bob and Rick, they made a jig to do both the mortise and tenon with a router. Woonut65

Cubbie

All the links to the images are broken.

Cubbie

It sounds to me that I should be looking at one of two possibilities, rounding the tenon myself with a chisel, or using a floating tenon.

I still have a preference toward a rounded tenon made from the piece I'm putting into the mortise, rather than a floating one. I haven't done any chiselling in the past, so I don't know my abilities in rounding them off myself, or making an entire mess of it. *laughs*

The two rockler bits shown don't appear to make all that big of a floating tenon, and because the lee valley ones are so cheap, I'll probably go that route.

All the advise given thus far is muchly appreciated!

Christopher.

realsmiley

Nothing wrong with a chisel. Even Norm did that on a recent show.

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real

DONALD

I'm new to woodworking and still practicing. I don't use a jig for my mortise. I lay out the lines of the mortise and use a Forstner bit to drill several overlaping holes until I can move the bit back and forth easily then a little clean up with a chislel. I cut tenons on the table saw and round the ends off just a little by sanding until they fit the tenon. A router and adjustable jig would be faster but sanding or filing the tenons only takes a couple of minutes. Long time woodworkers feel that a chisel is the only to cut a mortise. To me it dosen't mater how I get there if it works for me.

Cubbie

Interesting variety of techniques..

I don't know if I'll ever end up getting a table saw, I just don't have the room for it in the garage. Obviously there's some things you just can't do without a table saw, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. *laughs* My next toy is a bench grinder (comes in later this week) followed by a drill press. Don't know what I'll get after that.. everything is limited by wallet thickness and space.

delroy33

cubbie: table saw, jointer and thickness planer.

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roy
start square, finish square