Seeking Tenon Jig Advice

[SkintKnuckle]

I have some rough cut cherry and have an order for an end table from my daughter-in-law.

I was curious what technique is best?

1- Get a tenon jig for my table saw, any suggestions on which jig?
2- Use the table saw miter gauge and nibble away.
3- Use table saw and band saw to cut cheeks.
4- Router table.....I haven't finished my just yet.

Thanks ahead for comments.

 

[4yanks]

Any of the methods you mentioned should work fine. I cut mine on my tablesaw. I use a crosscutt sled to cut the shoulders. I have the old (heavy) style delta tenon jig that I use now for the cheeks. However, I used to use a jig that I constructed that rode against the fence to good effect. To make the jig use some 3/4 MDF or other flat material of similiar thickness. Cut 2 pieces to form the legs of a right triangle. Rabbet one side (this piece will be verticle to the saw table) to accept thickness of the other (this piece will rest horizontally on the table surface). Cut 2-3 pieces of material to serve as braces for the right angle of the main pieces. Glue and screw the whole thing together to ensure that the 2 main pieces remain at 90* to each other. Finally add a thin strip of material to the verticle surface at it's trailing edge to serve as support for your stock. Use the jig against the fence with your stock clamed vertically against it. This is a cheap and effective tenon jig that can be used for raising panels as well if it is sized properly. Hope this helps.

 

[DaveO]

One other method you didn't suggest, may or may not be applicable, is to use a dado set in either the TS or RAS. I just did some tenons like that on the RAS with a stop block to keep the cheeks square.
Dave

 

[Joe Scharle]

I was curious what technique is best?

1- Get a tenon jig for my table saw, any suggestions on which jig?
Big, heavy type is best. If you make a raised panel jig described by 4yanks and most of us have done, make sure that it has no play on the fence and that you can clamp the work fore & aft. Real easy to cut a 'wedge' tenon otherwise.

2- Use the table saw miter gauge and nibble away.
The tenon will usually have a washboard of kerf marks and yellow glue does not fill a void.

3- Use table saw and band saw to cut cheeks.
If I must make a tenon; my first choice

4- Router table.....I haven't finished my just yet.
Look into "loose tenons" and incorporate that into your design of your router table. Look in my gallery for a cheap example. I can route perfect mortises every time, but you wouldn't believe the amount of kindling I've made with little tabs on the ends!

Joe

 

[cpowell]

I have some rough cut cherry and have an order for an end table from my daughter-in-law.

I was curious what technique is best?

1- Get a tenon jig for my table saw, any suggestions on which jig?
2- Use the table saw miter gauge and nibble away.
3- Use table saw and band saw to cut cheeks.
4- Router table.....I haven't finished my just yet.

Thanks ahead for comments.

I used to use 2. Now I generally use 3.

As far as 1, FWIW McRabbet has made a tenoning jig plan available in the download section http://ncwoodworker.net/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=110

 

[McRabbet]

Martin,

You'll find step-by-step pictures of my Loose Tenon jig in my Photo Gallery under Jigs & Fixtures. And, I have pictures of a panel raising jig that can also be used to hold stock for cutting tenons (it's just a big version of the jig that 4yanks described in his post). Hope this augments the other answers you've gotten.

Rob