5 Ways to Make a Mortise
A hole is just a hole, no matter how you dig it. The mortise-and-tenon joint is fundamental in woodworking. Along with the dovetail, this joint has been used for thousands of years. If you judge [...]
8 Ways to Make Tenons
A quick guide to the pros and cons of how to make the difficult part of a classic joint. Many pieces of old handmade furniture owe their long life to mortise and tenon joints. There are many [...]
Classic Door Joinery
How to make strong mortise and tenon joints with a plunge router and a tablesaw. Imagine turning the clock back 500 years and visiting a fellow woodworker in any large European town. You could [...]
Cut Tenons on Curved Parts
Demystify cutting tenons on curved parts using these simple steps and jigs. Ever wonder how furniture builders cut joinery on curved parts? A common place to see this is on chair backrests, [...]
The Wedged Mortise & Tenon
This time-tested joint is perfect for knockdown furniture. This bedstead I’m building is a perfect place to use a joint that I rarely cut: the wedged, through-mortise and tenon. I need to be able [...]
The Indispensable Mortise & Tenon
Drawbore it for a joint that will last centuries. I once had a visitor to my shop remark that he’d like to see a book about all the types of joints that I use. I told him it’d be a …
Accurate and Easy Joint-depth Gauge
A straight mortise-and-tenon joint requires each tenon cheek to be flat, of consistent thickness and parallel to the body of the workpiece. If a cheek is twisted or angled relative to the faces [...]
Arts & Crafts Through-tenons
One of my favorite Arts & Crafts details is the through-tenon at the top of a table, bookcase or chair. When I was considering adding a joinery class to my curriculum at the Barnard [...]
Jigs for Perfect Mortise & Tenon Joints
These jigs help you hand cut flawless mortise-and-tenon joints. By Jeff Miller Mortise-and-tenon joints tend to frustrate woodworkers far more than dovetails do. That’s no mystery; they are [...]
Convert your Drill Press into a Mortiser [Video]
Not every woodworker is into mortise-and-tenon joinery and the infrequent “mortiser” is likely to take out their hammer and chisels for that one project that demands a mortise. [...]
Q & A: The Right Mortise / Tenon Fit
Q: What’s the right fit between a mortise and a tenon? I’m going crazy trying to measure them with a dial caliper! A: You’re not alone. This question has bugged just about every woodworker, but [...]
Most-asked Woodworking Questions
Throughout the years I’ve been here at Popular Woodworking Magazine, there are only two woodworking questions that find their way into my inbox on a regular basis. The number of times [...]