Less Than one Tips To Cut Perfect Mortise

How to Cut A tenon: • (Unknown #) Tips for M...
Tape:amzn.to/3Gy7Jio
Marking Knife: lddy.no/gteg
Drill stop: lddy.no/u17z
Bench Chisels: lddy.no/gt4o
Mortising Chisel: lddy.no/gtcp
The Mortise and tenon are the first joints and if you can master it, then you can master any joint.
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[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

How to Cut A tenon: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZTPdnhqlJ2kipo Tape:amzn.to/3Gy7Jio Marking Knife: lddy.no/gteg Drill stop: lddy.no/u17z Bench Chisels: lddy.no/gt4o Mortising Chisel: lddy.no/gtcp

[@MartinMMeiss-mj6li]

Excellent video. Here's a few points I would add: 1) A mortising gauge (with two independently adjustable scratch pins), allows one to scribe both sides of the mortise and tenon with one motion. This is quite handy and removes one possible source of error. 2) Because errors can creep in, either in the layout or in the cutting and chopping, I like to chop the mortise first and cut the tenon it fit it. This is because it is easier to adjust the width of the tenon than to adjust the mortise.

[@robertweldon7909]

Way back in the 1960s I was taught this joint in high school woodshop. I took wood shop for three years. I still have and use those three projects. The screws to attach the tops failed, my joints are still tight in 2021. That has a lot to say in favor of a mortise and tenon joint. ;-)

[@dlevi67]

Tip number 3/8: if you do drill the mortice, drill the two 'ends' first. It's easier to drill (or chop out) a partial diameter hole between two other holes than between one hole and your end mark.

[@GinaHubany]

I have 5 1920 windows to rebuild & this is exactly what I was looking for!! Thank you!

[@lc360]

Building a something for my mum this Christmas and I can tell I'm gonna rewatch this video a thousand times in the next few weeks. Thank you for sharing!!

[@mariocavallo331]

I love the “use reality” tip. I always tell my guys the same in certian situations

[@chriscunicelli7070]

I loved this video! I’ve watched it twice and agree that, M&T is more difficult then dovetails. The tips are really quality! Great video James. Quality tips from a quality guy.

[@lincolndickerson1293]

Great video. I love the way you say if “If you have this, use it, if not use what you got” then move on and mostly use the less specialized tool. I have a thing about semi-perminent joiner. Sliding dovetails, tusked tenons, pegged tenons… joinery if you leave out the glue it will last forever but can be disassembled. Anything like that I love to see. Thanks for all you share with us

[@SweSuf]

I'm eagerly looking forward to all the imaginary tips in your next video (you know, the sqrt(-1) = +/- i).

[@dlevi67]

They are ideal for squaring pieces up.

[@Theiftanlazx]

Man you're a great teacher. Remind me of my first wood working teacher!

[@MK-lh3xd]

Many practically useful tips. Especially I liked the tip about swinging the chisel to check that you have the required width throughout the depth and width of the mortise. Kind of seems obvious after someone points it out, but not otherwise.

[@Danny-ul4sq]

Great advice. Not only on how to cut a mortise (I prefer to use a mortise chisel only), but just how much more important a mortise and tenon joint is compared to all those who want to reminisce about doing dove tales at school.

[@rickshick8544]

Being on a limited budget and running out of time on my most recent project, and needing to drill holes to accept threaded inserts to be installed in 3/4 inch thick boards, I decided to make a Poor Man's (thank you, Paul Sellers) depth stop. I used a piece of scrap long enough to give me the 1/2" spacing I wanted, and big enough to let me drill a hole the same diameter as the brad-point drill I was going to use. There were other complicating factors that led me to locate centers of my threaded insert holes using 1/16" drill bit. The flies on the wall died laughing at the antics I went through but it all worked great. Or great-ish. That cool depth stop you used stimulated this reply. Thank you.

[@johnbeach8607]

Ty your teaching is great now I have a starting point to master the mortise hand cutting method and proper method of using my chisels,my mistakes were starting points of the cuts and choping too much at a time . Your method helped me correct my major issues ty ,my cuts are 100% better now make time too practice the cutting methods too master it

[@Nick5o9]

7:24 me before my morning coffee 😂

[@markstevens6935]

Thanks, just getting back into woodworking and this refresher is great!

[@malcolmsmith5903]

Great video James. Of course all aspects of the joint are important but if only one thing can be perfect then, as you said, make it the internal face parallel to the reference face. I'd rather a slight shoulder gap than a twisted frame. Great job.

[@jimmcnett]

Excellent demonstration. I can't wait to try it in the shop.

[@stanp1104]

James, your posts are great. always seem to learn something. Thanks.

[@meatcreap]

Absolute pleasure to watch - thank you!!

[@rjtumble]

Love it, thanks. I’m about to build some legs for a jigsaw puzzle table I’m building for my wife, and had just decided to use mortise and tenon joiner, so really timely.

[@karl_alan]

Ugh...would've loved this 2 weeks ago...in the past 2 weeks I've done 18 mortises with what I already knew...never hurts to know more for next time. For these I did try both methods of chopping them out.

[@steveshapland8846]

I happen to have lock mortise chisels matching my mortice chisels. I use them for cleaning our the chips. They pry against the wall, not the edge line of the ends.

[@robertberger8642]

Good info & demo!

[@wlial]

Perfect joint, James! You are a master.

[@MCsCreations]

Fantastic tips, James! 😃 Thanks a lot!!! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@TedStJohn-vz9jr]

Good suggestions, and very entertaining! Thanks!

[@soofihasan]

Amazingly helpful and enjoyable, thank you so much for helping us in this fine art. God bless you

[@ilantwito]

Excellent video!!! Thank you so much!

[@BillCoale]

You're an excellent teacher. How do you determine how deep the mortise should be/how long the tenon should be?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

it all depends on the application. if it is a frame on a door it does not need to be very deep. in most cases 1" will do. but if it is to provide diagonal straight you want it to be as long as the joint will allow.

[@rmclean3]

Really fantastic video!

[@roger55es]

Great instruction thanks

[@deemdoubleu]

Excellent work thanks

[@steveshapland8846]

Thank you for the excellent pair of videos on M&T joints. My next project has nearly two dozen of them.

[@truenorthpositivejuniorten4628]

You are such a good teacher!

[@aerotown42]

Thank you! Great teacher

[@tobiasfrancisco5879]

That was so satisfying seeing the tenon go in 🤤

[@warrenmunn3224]

Watching you use the "flag" tip for marking the depth of holes, I recently found (using a power drill), if I slowly drill down the "flag" tells me when to stop as it dusts the surface of the material. Once the surface around the hole is getting cleaned I'm at or fractionally below depth.

[@johnrobins8]

Awesome video. Such great detail. Thanks

[@vh9040]

Fantastic video, thanks for sharing.

[@russellschwartz3896]

Another thing I learned: Have a sharp chisel. Mine wasn't, and I couldn't clean out the tenon easily like you did in the video. In fact, when I tried to chop, the chisel only went in less than 1/16 in. (My chisels are also inherited -- from my late father. When I was a kid, he wouldn't let me use them because I would make them dull. Irony!)

[@RICKYDENNIS49]

“For some reason this is going a lot faster than I remember “ I almost wet myself when that came out 😂 awesome video, nicely done 👌

[@richardsilva-spokane3436]

Excellent!!! Thanks!!!!

[@user-so4yl9so9s]

That was so cool👌🏾👌🏾

[@dannymurphy1779]

Fantastic - Paul Sellers would be proud of that one! Have just subbed. Would love to see the rebate or router plane used on a joint, routers are fine but very noisy. I find it a lot more fun using hand tools.

[@donovancampbell7785]

Thank you for your knowledge!:)

[@anferney1323]

great video thank you!

[@tombrownrigg8794]

Thank you👍Very Helpful

[@nxsmotorsports]

8:25 "Now for the boring part" - Clever pun, good sir.

[@jamescawdell3321]

What a great video! Fun and careful explanations and tips. Please could you demonstrate a wedged M&T? It would showcase the through M&T really well but many demonstrations of it miss out how to make the slopped sides accurately and I think you'd be great at showing us how to do it!

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

I might have to do that one. I've got a couple videos showing at live but it would be good to do a detailed video like this.

[@jamescawdell3321]

@@WoodByWrightHowTo I'll go check those out, thank you!

[@whittysworkshop982]

Very good advice at the end........ everyone needs to know how to do this. The M&T is the king of joints, its in nearly everything :) I still hate doing the mortise part tho hahah :P Pi minus 4 made me chuckle :P

[@specialsauce305]

Great instructional video. I always thought you needed to use a mortising chisel to cut motises.

[@MichaelRodgers670]

thank you! I have always struggled to get this right. I will probably run outside in a moment and try it out

[@truenerge4237]

Awesome! so well eplanained... almost too good

[@The_Joker_]

Brilliant ❤

[@kennethnielsen3864]

Thanks for sharing.

[@markgoode4109]

Very helpful. Thanks for this. Best wishes :)

[@mohdalisyed]

Great video James! Just another tip: dig the mortice first, so if you have to compensate for errors, you can do it while cutting the tenons. Easier to work on tenons than mortises imho

[@user-nu7ou7yt4p]

Good Idea

[@believethebible88]

Do you have a video on miter joints? I’d like to make 90° miter joints without metal fasteners. Thanks for the in depth demonstration of the mortise and tenon joint. Very detailed.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

Yes I have a few live videos making those. And I have done a few picture frames too.

[@FranksWorkbench]

So right about it being the more difficult joint. Dovetail= saw to a line for 1/2 to 1". M&T= saw to a line for at least an inch and chop accurately for the same. Not to mention how much easier it is to repair a dovetail oops since it's exposed.

[@user-rx8nm7ws8d]

marvelous

[@zidnyknight3611]

Thanks

[@walterrider9600]

thank you

[@christophercastor6666]

Pretty joint. I thought you just a pretty face, great beard, and a boat load of dad jokes but Alas! You are a hell of a hand tool woodworker as well! Keep having fun and dividing by Zero!

[@abidmalick6232]

Nice video good teacher

[@mikeandlucky]

True. M&T is more difficult that DT. Thanks for the video.

[@laurencesim3664]

Brilliant

[@reaper060670]

Enjoyed this one very much man.. I want to master the Mortise & Tenon joint. Master might be a bit strong a word but u get my meaning.. LOL I struggle a little every time I attempt it. The tenon is never cut as straight and true as I would like and the Mortise ends up being too wide or damaged bcos I don't take my time, and begin to rush certain cuts with the chisel. Is it important to work at the same pace always? What I mean is how do u find that sweet spot with timing. I may place the chisel wrong bcos I rushed it a little or something like that??? I'm also trying to cut the tenon with my hand saw too. I try to chisel it all out on both. For me the Mortise is the easier part but I still struggle with it. I keep messing up on the Tenon though. I'm going to try using the tape from now on. I need to get me some of that blue tape but I HAVE WHITE AND YELLOW COLOURED STUFF. The BLUE TAPE looks better option to wok with. u CAN CLEARLY SEE THE CUTS U NEED TO MAKE WITH THAT COLOUR IMO. That's something I haven't tried before so I'll be picking it up tomorrow.. Thanks for a very informative video my friend. Appreciate the work u put in to teach us too. Take it easy pal..

[@GizmoDuck_1860]

I now have knowledge. Thank you. The thing that worries me is, how do you ensure you're plumb in all axis when you're drilling?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

I generally just eyeball it, but you can set up a square beside where you're drilling so you can plumb the bit too the square.

[@gawbo005]

I would love to see a bridle joint. I have a hard time cutting out the middle piece

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

here is an old video on that. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nn6od3-ZnLZlgKc I should do a new one some time.

[@brettjohnson9453]

I've found that improving my sawing technique was very helpful for bridal joints. Cleaning up the middle was just too error prone for me.

[@user-ht3wt1ew4v]

Hi from RSA

[@russellschwartz3896]

Thank you again! I have a mortise that's much deeper than 3/8 inch, and using a chisel was taking forever. But I have my late father-in-law's augers, and boring is going to save me much time. (Can you tell that I'm a noob?) ;)

[@jonasdaverio9369]

Tip number 45° was fun

[@thedookster4143]

Question for ya. Other than using hand tools and having a serious satisfaction level it is the same if you use a router and dado stack correct? I just did my first mortise and tenon (through tenon) and wished I remembered not to go all the way through. I got tearout because I didn't go half half...Great video bro.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

Yes same if using power tools. Just more setup time.

[@jimpowell6102]

So is it better to make the tenon first and then the mortise? Usually I have seen this done the other way, so the tenon can be fitted to the mortice, as the mortise is dependent on chisel size.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

I find it less error prone to make the tenon first and then the mortise. You can adjust the mortise to fit the tenon or you can adjust the tenon to fit the mortise. Both of them are equally easy. However you cannot use the mortise to mark out the tenon but you can use the tenon to mark out the mortise. This gives you far more accurate markings.

[@EggyOrphan]

Hi james, made my first moritse and tenon for a bow saw but had a question.... How clean is the bottom suppose to be? My moritse is pretty small so havent difficult cleaning out the bottom of it... Thank you

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

The bottom doesn't have to be cleaned off. It doesn't have to be flat and it doesn't have to match perfectly with tennon. The bottom has almost no purpose at all. If you look at a lot of antiques made by the Masters they are completely torn apart in the bottom. Mine usually have a 16-in to an eighth in space in the bottom.

[@EggyOrphan]

@@WoodByWrightHowTo thank you so much for the thorough explanation really appreciate it!!🙏

[@nightwing321]

I missed the live last week live and figured this is a good place to ask. Families secret Santa is coming up and I gotta put something down. I currently have cheap ace hardware chisels and want something that can hold a edge better. I really only need a 1/4” right now and was thinking of asking for a single richter Narex chisel. But taytools has a 4 piece premium for $70. Is it worth slowly getting the Richter’s over time or are the premium good enough? I’m happy with what I have right now but the price of 1 Richter is 1/2 the cost of the premium set. What do you think? Ask for the set or for just a single chisel and build a set over time?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

the Premium use the same steel as the standard, they just have a bit better fit and finish. here is my test with the chisel comparison. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XoOGNmJUXlaVbNw5BcKtcbZzft6aZiQKjdeQRDBNE08/edit?usp=sharing The Premium chisels are not bad, but some day you will want something better.

[@nightwing321]

@@WoodByWrightHowToI remember looking at that sheet when I first came across your channel and had no idea what any of it meant. I’ll reread it now and make a decision based on that and what I’ve learned over the last year. Thank you!

[@rontisdale817]

"And now for the boring part"😂😂

[@user-sk1ig6gk9w]

But what size should I use for mortise&tenon ?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

it all depends on the application. if it is a frame on a door it does not need to be very deep. in most cases 1" will do. but if it is to provide diagonal straight you want it to be as long as the joint will allow.

[@richardlane9582]

Do you usually cut the tenon first? I thought the mortise first was standard? Thanks.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

I prefer to cut the tenon first as it makes it easier to Mark out the mortise. Somewhere around 60% of people cut the mortise first.

[@wf4516]

How do you ensure the bottom of the mortise is flat? Or is not perfectly flat but just enough that the tenon can sit in with a small gap at the bottom?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

No reason to make it flat. Just as long as the tenon can go all the way down. Most of the time. There's a bit of a gap underneath it. It gives a space for the pressed down glue to fit so it doesn't push the tenon back out.

[@wf4516]

@@WoodByWrightHowTo Thanks!

[@ericrichter7933]

Maybe do a rising dovetail at some point?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

I did a video on one of those a wile ago. I might have to do another one some time.

[@ericrichter7933]

@@WoodByWrightHowTo ooh! My bad, I’ll have to go look for that one. Thanks for all of your hard work. It’s much loved

[@codybryant8684]

How about doing a half lap joint

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

I should do a dedicated video on that. here is one in a project a few years ago. kzbin.info/www/bejne/p2fLoHiPfsZnjc0

[@ricos1497]

@@WoodByWrightHowTo what about a quarter lap joint then?

[@niedzviedz13]

We have a rhyme in Poland about dividing by zero: "Pamiętaj cholero, nigdy nie dziel przez zero". :) Which means more less in english: "remember damn, never divide by zero".

[@daniel_bohrer]

I know this was just a test piece for demonstration purposes, and you probably didn't want to waste a full board for that, but would you ever actually make a mortise at the end of the board? I think I'd rather use a bridle joint for that, or am I overlooking something? 😅

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

That is how toy would make a frame and panel on a cabinet door or on a house door, or the skirt on a table, or the face frame of a cabinet.

[@daniel_bohrer]

@@WoodByWrightHowTo Ah right, yes, thank you :)

[@Borescoped]

James, Greene & Greene joinery on boxes? You did say add things we’d like to see

[@standswithfish]

How to deal with blisters from all that chiseling? Oh, tenon balm!

[@barbaraaxton6497]

8

[@LordPadriac]

This is literally the only video I've seen that suggests cutting the tenon first. I don't understand why I would when if something needs to be adjusted to fit reality, and it will, it's much easier to adjust the tenon than it is the mortise.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

it is just as easy to adjust one or the other. and you can mark the mortis off to the tenon but you can not do the other. in most traditions the tenon is cut before the mortise. but with the power tool influence that has often been changed.

[@prego2011able]

Great video and information. Was a little disappointed that you used 4-5 =1 and not e^(i*π)=-1 lol. Awesome stuff though

[@markkoons7488]

How about that? They love your video.

[@rkalle66]

Tipp no. 4 minus 5 ... Even a knive is not infinite small. Put the mortise flush, get a square to "hold" the line against the mortise, remove the mortise and then mark the line with a knive along the square were the mortise was.

[@ilantwito]

How about doing this with a router?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

You could but it takes a lot longer to do all the setup. If you're doing a whole bunch of them then the router is faster. But if it's just 2 to 4 usually hand saws and chisels are faster.

[@Heseblesens]

Today I think I will nitpick...and here's less than one nit: At 2:46 through 2:55 you did the small no-no....you referenced off the opposite side of the reference side...I almost cried a little... Ok ok, so it was not the long sides of the mortise but I am very bored today so.... 🙃🎱🔎

[@richardc6932]

I know this is a mortise demo but always thought that the mortise was made first and then the tenon made to fit the mortise.

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

It's about 50/50 depending on who you ask. Generally I prefer to make the tenon first so that I can very easily Mark out the mortise to match it. The other argument is that if you do the mortise first it's easier to modify the tenon. I find it to be about 50/50 both ways.

[@woodbgworks4275]

shouldnt the mortise be done before the tenon

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

Different traditions do it differently. Most do the tenon first as it is easier to transfer the marks to the mortise.

[@franklerouge]

cOMMENT DOWN BELOW

[@curiolus]

I thought you are supposed to cut the mortise before the tenon?

[@WoodByWrightHowTo]

Some people like to do that. It's just personal preference. One is not better than the other. Personally I like to cut the ten in first because I can use that to mark the mortise. You really can't Mark the tenon with the mortise