With these templates, we will make mortise and tenon joints quite quickly. Moreover, once the templates are well adjusted, the effort to make the mortise and tenon joints is minimal, as it is not necessary to draw all the tenons on the ends of the strips to then cut them with a saw, nor do we need to draw all the mortises on the sides to then hollow them out with a hammer and chisel.
-> Below is the new video on how to make the guide for routing tenons with the router. After that, there are the old videos, including how to make the box to put the guide on, and how to make the guide for routing the mortises to make the mortise and tenon joints.
How to make the guide for routing mortise and tenon joints with the router
The first thing we need to do, to start with the mortise and tenon joints, is to decide the width we will give to the tenons and mortises. The width of the tenon will depend on the width of the short side of the end of the strip and will be between 1/3 and 1/2 of that width. What we need to do is choose a straight bit that fits those measurements. If we are unsure between two bits, it’s better to choose the larger diameter one, as it will give us fewer problems when routing the tenon (it won’t leave the corners of the strip poorly routed, as we will see in the video). This is true if we use the same bit for routing the mortise and the tenon (which is what I do), but you can always use one bit for the mortise and another larger diameter bit for the tenon, as long as the tenon you get is the width of the mortise.
Template for routing tenons:
What we are going to make is a pretty simple box that will help us keep the strip vertical so we can route the end and shape the tenon. On top of the box, we will put a marquetry sheet with a hole. And inside the hole, the guide ring of our router will slide while we shape the tenon.
To draw that hole, follow the sketch on the left. We will need a compass, square, and protractor. However, the most important thing will be to get a caliper to measure the diameters of the guide ring and the bit as accurately as possible.
In the drawing, I leave the cutting diagram of the board with the measurements and a scheme of the box.
Here is the first old video of this post, on how to make the box. I hope to complete the template in the next video. (The video where I finish the template for routing the tenons with the router is further down in this post)
I should post the video on how to make the hole in the template, but while recording it, I encountered a couple of problems that I try to explain in this video. I already have the template video recorded, and as soon as I finish editing it, I’ll post it.
It took some work, but I finally finished editing the second part of the video where I complete the template for the tenons.
It didn’t turn out as well explained as I would have liked, so if anyone has any questions, I’ll try to answer them.
Finally, when choosing the bit, look for long bits. The two on the left are from a cheap bit set, and the one on the right is from another. If we use the short bits, we may not get enough depth on the tenons.
All that remains is the template for the mortises, but this is much simpler.
How to route the mortises to make the mortise and tenon joints:
I won’t leave plans for this template because it is very simple to make. With it, we can route mortises at any distance from the head of the strip repetitively and without having to take measurements except for the first strip we are going to route. The idea is to get a good base on which to rest the router and adjust some stops that limit its movement when making the mortises.
As we see in the photos, it basically involves screwing two strips to a small plywood board and screwing the stops for the router to the strips in a way that allows us to obtain a mortise of the desired length.
If we need to change the width of the mortise, we just change the bit and by moving one of the stops that we screwed for the router, we easily vary the length.
In the video, we see how to make the template and how to use it. The worst part is that it is necessary to make a template for each type of strip, or even two if the strip is rectangular and we need mortises on the wide and narrow sides. Even so, it saves us a lot of work.
In upcoming videos, I hope to make a small piece of furniture using this system to make mortise and tenon joints.
Don’t miss the other cutting and joinery guides on this blog, all explained and with videos showing how I make them.