John Grossbohlin wrote:


It's the making the tenons part, not the mortise part, that would
burn time that pulling tenons out of a box wouldn't. Setting up
machines to rip, joint, thickness, round over, cut to length, etc.,
to relatively tight consistent tolerances takes time... I suppose if
you make 100s or 1,000s of them in what otherwise would be down time
it would be OK, and cost effective, but in the middle of a job it
strikes me as a time burning distraction.

I'd bet Karl does it in his down time, but even at that this seems to be one
of those "to each his own" things for me. Perhaps Karl finds it relaxing,
and just a way to spend some time in his shop that is not clock driven,
working on a "job". I know that things I do in my garage can take on that
feel. The same thing that I have to get done because someone is paying me
for it, does not have the same feel as doing it just because I want to, in
my spare time.

For me - this would be one of those that I'd consider worth the expense to
just buy them. For another - well, it may just be pure pleasure. I can't
see where Karl figures this saves him 30% shop time as he states, but maybe
that's because he frequently makes mortises that are odd sized and require
custom made tennons. Having them pre-cut and on hand would be a time
savings, but then I'd wonder if those custom sized mortises are really all
that necessary. Maybe standard sized stuff would work just as well. Don't
know - don't know exactly what he meant in his earlier statement.

--

-Mike-