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First off, I consider myself an accomplished novice. What I build I do for myself and home. My pieces are very good but not great.
I tend to design and build in the Arts & Crafts style which is heavily Mortise and Tenon intense!
The part I have the most dissatisfaction with is the shoulders of my tenons. I cut them on my tablesaw using a guide block and miter jig. Does it matter which face is done first? I usually do the front and back faces then readjust the blade height for the side faces. The problem is that when I switch to do the sides, the guide seems to be off slightly so I get an overcut on the sides.
Is it my technique or am I missing something? Any advise would be really appreciated!
Also, in these situations, is there a best way to fix? I had tried to file the edge, pare the edge, recut the face…none seem to make the joint better.
Replies
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Saw cut tenons have their good and bad points as you've found out.
Might be time to try a new approach? Router cut?
See FWW #96 on a jig/platform that holds the work on end so the router can cut all the shoulders in one clean tearout free plane.
Tenons to 2+ in length, shoulders from an 1/8" to 9/16" possible. Cutting time/tenon maybe a a minute.
Routers
*Kevin, While you weren't real descriptive of the actual problem, I'll make some assupmptions and do what I can.I do cut over 95% of my tenons on the table saw (the remainder by hand). Set your blade to the proper height for the shoulders and cut these first using the mitergauge (use 150 grit sandpaper on the face of the gauge or aux. fence to prevent the workpiece from moving, also make sure that the guage is set at a perfect 90 degrees by using the try square to set it). For the sides make repetative passes to the end of the tenon. Do this as one operation for all like tenons (constantley changed blade settings insures inaccuracy). I made a very simple tenon jig that fits on top of fence. The jig has a verticle fence attached to register the stock against for cutting the cheeks of the tenon. Raise the blade to the proper height (length of tenon) adjust fence to cut the cheek so waste is outside. Clamp workpiece to the jig run it through, rotate the piece and repeat. Takes me less than 2 minutes to mill a tenon. If your set ups are correct you will have a perfect tenon. I use an 80 tooth carbide blade and my shoulders and tenons are as smooth as a baby's butt.Good Luck,Dano
*Kevin, it could be that your stop block is not perpendicular to the saw table, which could cause the tenon to register slightly differently between vertical and flat positions.
*Thanks everyone for the food for thought!I have a new project that I'm drawing out that may call for mitered mortise & tenon joints. A combo of machine and hand cuts I think...should be fun though!I've been thinking it may be a combo of my gauge block and miter gauge alignment. Its been awhile since I verified squareness.Thanks again!
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