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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 …

Make your own copy of this precision vintage tool. Even after two years of working alone, I can still hear the visitors to my museum shop where I worked for 20 years: “My grandpa was a [...]

Practice Traditional Building Joinery on a Smaller Scale Project #2104 • Skill Level: Advanced • Time: 2 Weeks • Cost: $300 During my 14 years living in Europe, I marveled repeatedly at how these [...]

Cut mortises of any width and length in stock of virtually any size. Here’s a win-win proposition: Spend a day in your shop and turn your drill press into a mortising machine. This fixture makes [...]

Bullet-Catch Bench Dogs When I built my workbench, I drilled round bench-dog holes in the top so I didn’t have to cut square mortises. Being a thrifty sort, I didn’t want to shell out for [...]

When drilling mortises for chair arms, such as those in a ladderback chair, it can be difficult to accurately center your bit. But wrap a string around the rear post at the mortise location and [...]

Drilling a mortise requires you to move the stock from side to side. Using a Forstner bit, you drill the end holes first, then drill overlapping holes in between. To keep the workpiece tight [...]

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 [...]

Cordless Drill Mortise Mill Editor’s note: This product no longer appears to be available. This mortising jig is small, but don’t be fooled by its toy-like appearance; the JessEm [...]

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 [...]

Wedged Mortise and Tenon This joint will never loosen! By Tom Caspar   Tap, tap, tap. The wedges go home, the glue squeezes out and a big smile lights up your face. “This joint [...]

Mortise Centering Jig With this jig I can rout mortises exactly centered on the workpiece— no measurement or layout necessary. First I drilled and tapped two holes in my router base plate [...]