I have gotten quick enough in making mortise and tenon that I use them regularly now. Most recently I used them to make some frames for targets at the range I belong to, for instance. Screws would have worked but mortise and tenons only took a few minutes.
I use my dedicated mortise machine - a Jet - to make the mortises. Not much of a secret to using this machine. I work with a piece of scrap to get the mortise centered and I like to make the mortise a little bigger than 1/3 - like 5/16 in 3/4 stock.
For the tenon I have done it with dado blades on the TS and Radial arm saw but the best results have come using a tenon jig that slides on the rip fence on the BT3100 (like the Jim Frye model). I have a quick clamp on my jig (I think that is shown on the Highland plans) and I nibble the wood off starting from the outside using the micropositioner. When I get close, I check regularly. I target a fit that I can push together without a mallet by hand - but with some resistance. I get more precise shoulders this way than I have gotten any other way. I would like to have a shoulder plane to trim the shoulders of the tenon but I have not justified the price to myself yet. With this method of cutting tenons, they generally fit well.
Jim
I use my dedicated mortise machine - a Jet - to make the mortises. Not much of a secret to using this machine. I work with a piece of scrap to get the mortise centered and I like to make the mortise a little bigger than 1/3 - like 5/16 in 3/4 stock.
For the tenon I have done it with dado blades on the TS and Radial arm saw but the best results have come using a tenon jig that slides on the rip fence on the BT3100 (like the Jim Frye model). I have a quick clamp on my jig (I think that is shown on the Highland plans) and I nibble the wood off starting from the outside using the micropositioner. When I get close, I check regularly. I target a fit that I can push together without a mallet by hand - but with some resistance. I get more precise shoulders this way than I have gotten any other way. I would like to have a shoulder plane to trim the shoulders of the tenon but I have not justified the price to myself yet. With this method of cutting tenons, they generally fit well.
Jim
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