# How to make a mortise?.



## Artemix (Aug 10, 2014)

A tenon is simple, just make some cuts in a table saw.

Now, a mortise... without one of those mortise machines.. how can I make one?.

I saw the other day some very complex router based apparatuses... not for me .

Any newbie-proof way of making them?.

Thanks.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Artemix said:


> A tenon is simple, just make some cuts in a table saw.
> 
> Now, a mortise... without one of those mortise machines.. how can I make one?.
> 
> ...


plenty...
you want to learn how to do them by hand or machine...
what do you have for marking gages, chisels, forstner bits, drill press and router???
what size do you want???
how deep???
all the way through???

lots on the subject right here...
pay attention to the .pdf's...

http://www.routerforums.com/router-bits-types-usage/47459-router-bits-mortise-tenon-project.html


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## Artemix (Aug 10, 2014)

The idea is to make a structure for a router table.

I want to joint together some pine 2"x4" (I hate speaking in inches btw ) to make the legs and the basic core structure.

For that I think mortise and tenon would be a good enough joint.

I will check those pdf.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Artemix said:


> The idea is to make a structure for a router table.
> 
> I want to joint together some pine 2"x4" (I hate speaking in inches btw ) to make the legs and the basic core structure.
> 
> ...


you don't talk in inches, I'll never understand what yur talking about...

so what do you have on hand to make mortises with... we do mortises here...

take a short cut to those pdf's and look at the bottom of the window to the left w/ my face in it and click on my uploads...
lots to choose from...


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Pablo; are you talking about building up a laminated plank with 2 x 4's edge to edge?
Like a workbench top? Tongue and groove style?
If so, that's way easier than M&T joinery.
Woodworkers Journal : Jig Based Joinery : Three Tongue-and-Groove Routing Options


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## Fraise (May 19, 2012)

Artemix said:


> The idea is to make a structure for a router table.
> 
> I want to joint together some pine 2"x4" (I hate speaking in inches btw ) to make the legs and the basic core structure.
> 
> ...


So you want to join some 56mm by 112mm. We're used to hopping from foot to cm in England now. And some 'metric' measurements are suspiciously imperial. Plaster boards in France are 1120 x 2240. 

Good luck with the mortises. Unless I'm doing loads I use a chisel.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Artemix said:


> The idea is to make a structure for a router table.
> 
> I want to joint together some pine 2"x4" (I hate speaking in inches btw ) to make the legs and the basic core structure.
> 
> ...


I have built several things for the workshop using 2x4 construction type material. Simple lap joints have worked just fine for me. Glue and clamp them together and maybe stick 'em with a nail or two or a few screws and you should be good to go.

It's not fine furniture but strong enough for a working environment.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

MT Stringer said:


> I have built several things for the workshop using 2x4 construction type material. Simple lap joints have worked just fine for me. Glue and clamp them together and maybe stick 'em with a nail or two or a few screws and you should be good to go.
> 
> It's not fine furniture but strong enough for a working environment.


I think Pablo is trying for several birds w/ just one stone....
building his table is practice for bigger and greater things...
now all he has to do decide on style/type...
there's just too many of them till he narrows it down...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

more...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortise_and_tenon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodworking_joints


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

I prefer this one for corners/returns...


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Stick486 said:


> I think Pablo is trying for several birds w/ just one stone....
> building his table is practice for bigger and greater things...
> now all he has to do decide on style/type...
> there's just too many of them till he narrows it down...


Oh, I see. Good idea.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

MT Stringer said:


> Oh, I see. Good idea.


so far, that seems to be what he's doing...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Artemix said:


> Now, a mortise... without one of those mortise machines.. how can I make one?.
> 
> Any newbie-proof way of making them?.
> 
> Thanks.


How to cut a mortise and tenon joint by hand - YouTube
Hand-Cut Joints: Mortise and Tenon | Article | Woodworking
How To Cut A Mortise And Tenon Joint Video Instructions
hand cut mortises | A Woodworker's Musings


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## Artemix (Aug 10, 2014)

Stick ur on fire!.

Btw, whats your name?, are you the one of the picture I saw in your uploads?.

Yeah like Stick said, I already made some very simple "joints", just glue + screw, I oversized the wood so I know I wont run into structural problems (instead of using a 2x4 I use 2 2x4, as legs for example).

But I want to start making some real joints, I think its a good practice and it feels more like a table and not some screwglued random wood .


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## Artemix (Aug 10, 2014)

Btw, this weekend I will probably finish my router table, pictures will be uploaded, beware of the simplicity though.


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## Artemix (Aug 10, 2014)

@Danivan if I can get one of those where I live, I think they will cost.. a lot. Probably something like 150 bucks, if not more.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Artemix said:


> Stick yur on fire!.
> 
> BTW, whats your name?, are you the one of the picture I saw in your uploads?.
> 
> ...


On fire huh...
I haven't time for another crises...

I've been called Stick all my life because that's my name...
except by my mother and then it was time to become invisible...
that's me in my profile... 

so pick yur poison and let's have at it...


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## Artemix (Aug 10, 2014)

Oh.. I thought stick was your forum nickname, you know, it makes sense for a woodworking forum, a stick:










Didn't know Stick was a name to be honest , well, I don't know much about names outside my country.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Artemix said:


> Oh.. I thought stick was your forum nickname, you know, it makes sense for a woodworking forum, a stick:
> 
> Didn't know Stick was a name to be honest , well, I don't know much about names outside my country.


actually my last name is Sticklend..
been so long since I heard my 1st name I've forgotten what it was/is....
even my wife called me Stick (amongst other things) for the last 46 years...


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## MAFoElffen (Jun 8, 2012)

Back at the OP's original question-- Some tips...

I cut my mortises before my tenons. Easier to shave down and fit a tenon to an existing mortise than the other way around. PITA to try it the othe way around... except when you have double tenons, then I have to balance between the two, to get the spacings right.

Mortises- 
If by router, jig or freehand. I mrk out where it will be and cut it out, going down about 1/4" at a time...

If by hand (most of mine)... I mark out, then drill holes to get out most of the meat. Depending if through and the cross-section... if cut all from one side, for the last part, I put a piece of scrap underneath so I don't break out the last part. If the cross-section is a ways, I sometime work form both ends towards the center.

Stick's example of offset M&T is a clean way to do corners if you have a thin top and for fine furnishings. 

Thicker top, more strength and able to take more abuse... Heavier legs, cross-bracing and tops... I use full tenons on the understructure with double M&T at each corner into the underside of the top. That way as you press of hit something down onto it, it presses it into itself.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

some handy stuff to have...


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## brille (Apr 9, 2014)

Hi all,

maybe Matthias Wandels new Pantarouter XL for non-cylindric models is interesting for you. For me it is.

I already made some mortise and tenon joints by hand and I like it. But building his machine will be fun, mortises and tenons faster and more precisely (than mine!).

Best regards

Uwe


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

Before I had a CNC, 98% of the mortises I cut were done upside down on a router table so long as the mortises ran parallel to the edge of the part. I'd mark the limits of the mortise on the opposite face of the part. Mark the limits of the router bit on the fence clamped to the router table. Use the marks to keep track of where the bit was inside the wood, and generally do depth passes no deeper than the bit diameter. As a router bit leaves rounded corners I would either use a chisel to round the tenon corners to fit, or the chisel to square the mortise corners. With a little care in set up a good fit was fairly easy to create. 

2% of times when the mortise needed to be cut on a board unwieldy for the router table I'd make a template from 1/4" plywood. Then use a hand held router in a plunge base with a bushing to ride against the template edges. Clamp the template to the part. 
4D


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