Mortise and Tenon

Quick Links:

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How do you cut a mortise and tenon?

Here are the blog posts on how Paul made his workbench. Have a look at the technique for cutting the mortices and tenons:

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Do you recommend using mortise chisels

Here is a blog post/video on cutting a mortice with bevel edged or mortice chisels. It also clearly shows the progression when cutting a mortise.

Chopping mortises – bevel-edged or mortise chisels (video)

Here is some information on the different types of chisel and where they are useful, focusing on the usefulness of mortice chisels:

Mid-weight mortising chisels

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How do you cut angled mortise & tenons?

For a few of the projects we have filmed for woodworkingmasterclasses.com use straight tenons and angled mortices for angled legs. That is definitely worth considering and is what we used for the bench stool:

Video Switch – From Handsome Canes to Workbench Stools

For angled mortises, you can use a block with the relevant angle, clamp it to the surface and us it to align your chisel for chopping the mortise and for pairing the walls afterwards.

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How do you cut round mortise and tenons?

You can also use wedged round tenons as used in the Foot Stool project as well as a larger Shaker-Style Bench Seat:

See this project on Woodworking Masterclasses with a paid membership.

Update On the Shaker-inspired Deacon’s Bench – It’s Finished

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Do you use bridle joints?

People often use a bridle joint as a corner joint which is not as strong as the haunched mortice and tenon which we recommend and use in most of our projects. The haunched mortice and tenon is fully enclosed.

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When do you use double and twin tenons?

Double tenon: Two tenons side by side. Used for thick stock.

Twin tenons: One above the other. On a large bottom rail for a door, a continuous wide tenon can remove too much material from the the stile and therefore compromise the integrity of the door. Therefore you can use a twin tenon.

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