I am working out the plans for shelf units for my son and his wife as a Christmas gift. I previously asked the question about the best type of joinery to use and the concensus seemed to be mortise and loose tenon.
I am planning on using a router with edge quide on a jig to cut the mortises on the ends of the short rails, but there are 6 rails on a horizontal shelf unit that will be at least 4-feet long, so they won't fit in my jig because they are too long.
I have decided to try to build a jig that fits on the fence of my rounter table that holds the rail vertically over the router table and will slide along the fence cutting the mortise about 1/4-in per pass. Does anyone have a better solution? If that jig works well, I may cut all of the mortises in the rails with the jig. I am planning to cut the mortises in the stiles by holding the stile against the router fence and dropping it on to the bit increasing the depth of cut about 1/4-inch per pass.
Any comments or suggestions on the technique? This is my first try at mortise and loose tenon.
Thanks
I am planning on using a router with edge quide on a jig to cut the mortises on the ends of the short rails, but there are 6 rails on a horizontal shelf unit that will be at least 4-feet long, so they won't fit in my jig because they are too long.
I have decided to try to build a jig that fits on the fence of my rounter table that holds the rail vertically over the router table and will slide along the fence cutting the mortise about 1/4-in per pass. Does anyone have a better solution? If that jig works well, I may cut all of the mortises in the rails with the jig. I am planning to cut the mortises in the stiles by holding the stile against the router fence and dropping it on to the bit increasing the depth of cut about 1/4-inch per pass.
Any comments or suggestions on the technique? This is my first try at mortise and loose tenon.
Thanks