Mortise and Tenon Joints

by Lindsay Suter

Lindsay Suter’s coffee table has exposed joinery: through-tenons, wedged with butterfly keys, join the legs to the top. Narrow stretchers replace more traditional ...

by Jim Richey

It’s hard to hide mistakes in through mortise-and-tenon joints because these strong, attractive joints show on the other side of the mating piece. Jim Richey prefers ...

by William Krase

William Krase made a crossfeed box and some purpose-made wedges to use with a sliding table to simplify angled and compound-angled tenons. The wedges establish ...

by Mac Campbell

Mac Campbell standardized and streamlined common furnituremaking operations; he explains his joinery shortcut here. His efficient, no-fuss system for cutting tenons ...

by Drew Langsner

Drew Langsner says that successful joinery depends on attention to and control of the moisture content of the wood. The techniques used in working green wood not ...

by Bernard Maas

After a few years breaking his router in, Bernie Maas believes that the router is one of the more significant innovations in our craft in a century. Here, he talks ...

by Alasdair G.B. Wallace

Alasdair G. B. Wallace made joynt stools using fox wedges, which expand the tenon within the mortise. The stools are traditionally made with green wood, which he ...

by Roger Holmes

In this second of four articles on starting out as a woodworker, Roger Holmes explains how to make bridle joints, or a simple mortise and tenon, for a simple table. ...

by Tage Frid

Dovetails are difficult for the beginner, and after helping students over the years fix their mistakes, Tage Frid realized you could outline the whole joint with ...

by Tage Frid

Don’t buy a mortising machine without first reading this article by Tage Frid, which explains how you can build a simple fixture for holding stock so you can cut ...

by Ian J. Kirby

Ian Kirby writes in this series on mortise-and-tenon joints about how to use tablesaws, radial saws, drill presses, or routers to make them. He begins by making ...

by Frank Klausz

Frank Klausz explains the way he learned to cut mortise-and-tenon joints in Hungary, using a kitchen table to show the steps involved. He won't say his way is better ...

by Ian J. Kirby

Ian J. Kirby continues his series on the mortise-and-tenon joint. In this article, he talks about designing mortise-and-tenon joints and how to stop the joint below ...

by Ian J. Kirby

Ian J. Kirby says the mortise-and-tenon joint is fundamental to woodworking. In this article, he focuses on the basics of designing mortise-and-tenon joints to ...

by Tage Frid

There are a great many variations of the mortise-and-tenon joint, writes Tage Frid, and the task of the cabinetmaker is to know which variation to use for a particular ...