On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:31:26 -0800, artlevart wrote:

Another noob question. Sorry! :-) Just wonderin' what most of you
guys/gals use to make mortise and tenons. Seems like this is a very
common joint for furniture construction and I'm trying to decide what
the next thing I need for my fledgling woodworking shop. I just ordered
a router and dovetail jig. Wow, it seems like a never ending inventory
for tools, LOL. I'm trying to get the essentials first. It will be a
while before I'll be able to afford a jointer and a thickness planer.
I'll probably rely on dimensioned lumber and a hand planer for now.
I've got circular saws, jig saws, a compound miter saw, a router (in
the mail, thanks Rockler), drills etc. I'll have a table saw, radial
saw, drill press and a router table in January when my dad comes to
visit ( thanks Santa). Do I need a mortiser? Any other essential tools?
Thought about a bisquit joiner might be a useful tool but it seems like
a lot of people don't use them. Any advise is welcome. Thanks!

With what you've got in hand right now, the router would be my choice for
mortise and tenon. You need to make a couple of jigs though, a mortising
jig to hold the router in the proper position and a table or other support
for making the tenons--the current issue of Shopnotes has plans for one
that should do the job.

With what you're going to have the router would still be the way to go for
mortises unless you want to get a purpose-made mortising machine, and the
radial saw would be my choice for tenons.

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)