Step 3: Saw the Tenon Cheeks

Now you will use a back saw to cut the tenon “cheeks”, or the faces of the tenon. You should use a backsaw with rip teeth because  you’ll be cutting down with the grain. If you’re cutting a small tenon, like this, then a small dovetail saw will work fine:

But if you want to cut a larger tenon, then a rip tenon saw should be used:

Use a bench chisel to cut out a little notch to provide your saw with a track for starting into the cut. It really helps with stability and straight cutting:

Your saw will rest against the notch wall:

Start the cut at a 45 degree angle, then start sawing horizontal, across the top end grain, staying a hair to the waste side of your line.

Once you’ve made a very shallow kerf on top of the board, move back to a 45 degree angle and continue sawing down to the baseline/shoulder line:

Flip your tenon piece around in the vice and saw from the other side, but in your new kerf that you just created on top of the board. The kerf that you already created will guide your saw downward in an accurate fashion. You can saw horizontally this time. Just make sure you stop before you reach the baseline/shoulder line:

Repeat the same steps on the other line that you marked on the tenon, then you’ll have two saw cuts / kerfs running down the tenon:

Whew! Sorry if that was confusing, but the above video should clarify any mystification. The rest is pretty simple now…

Step 4: Remove the Tenon Cheeks and Cut the Shoulders

Now we move on to removing the tenon cheeks and shoulders from the tenon. Since some of these cuts are across the grain, ideally you should use a different backsaw with crosscut teeth: a carcass backsaw:

If you can’t afford another back saw yet, you can indeed use your dovetail saw (with rip teeth). The teeth are small enough so you won’t notice a huge difference. It’ll be a bit harder, and won’t cut quite as cleanly.

Now secure your tenon piece  against a bench hook (or with a hold fast or in your vice some how), and deepen your shoulder line with a wide bench chisel and wooden mallet. Place the chisel precisely in your shoulder line (you previously created it with a marking gauge…remember?) One or two medium strokes with the mallet is deep enough. Make sure your chisel’s bevel is facing the tenon, like this:

Now use your wide bench chisel to create a little angled trench to guide your crosscut carcass saw:

This will allow your backsaw to rest against the shoulder, and will provide a more accurate guide when sawing downward. Now place your cross cut carcass saw in that trench and saw straight down:

Be extra careful to not saw too deep. Slowly “creep” up to the line. If you cut your long rip cuts deep enough, then the waste piece should simply pop off the cheek like this:

But often you need to go back into your long rip cuts and “creep” down a bit with a dovetail saw:

Repeat this same step on the other side of the tenon. Now your tenon should look like this:

If your sawing wasn’t perfect (don’t be embarrassed) you can straighten up your tenon “cheeks” and “shoulders” with your bench chisel (and a shoulder plane, if you like). But be careful to NOT place your hand in the direction of the chisel’s travel, like this:

Step 5: Cut the Tenon Sides

Use your square to draw vertical lines down both sides of your tenon and cut off a tad from each side with your dovetail saw:

And this is what the tenon looks like with one side removed:

Use a cross cut carcass back saw to cut the side shoulders pieces off:

These measurements aren’t critical because you will scribe the mortise width from whatever size you just trimmed your tenon to…so it’ll fit tight.

Step 6: Layout the Mortise

Your tenon is finished and ready for creating the mortise. The tenon should now look like this:

Lay your freshly finished tenon on your mortise and use a pencil or marking knife to make a tick marks on the mortise where the tenon sits. Use your square and marking knife to scribe a line from the tick mark so that you have the full outline of your mortise:

Above you’ll notice that the crossed out area is where you will chop the mortise with a mortising chisel.

Step 7: Chop the Mortise & Fit the Joint

Now it’s time to use your mortise chisel (or “mortice chisel” for my British friends) for chopping your mortise. I’ve seen several methods for chopping a mortise, but I’ll sharing my favorite method. I like to setup my mortise chopping using a traditional method from England:

The mortise board is held stable between the clamp and a board (that I placed in a vice). The mortise board also sits on top of another board. Again, the squigly lines are where you’ll be chopping with your mortise chisel:

The width of your mortise lines should perfectly match your mortise chisel’s width. The sides of the mortise chisel will be barely touching your layout lines:

STOP! You do not want the chisel to initially chop on the end lines or else the force and expansion will lengthen your mortise opening, which would prevent a perfect fit for your tenon. So start chopping with your mortise chisel about 1/4″ inch away from each end of  your mortise lines (see above). By “chop” I mean use your wooden mallet to hit the top of the mortise chisel. Chop straight downward. The angle of your mortise chisel’s bevel will cause the mortise chisel to go downward at an angle.

Keep chopping until you feel a lot of resistance, then pull the chisel straight out of the hole and “walk the chisel” down the edge of the board a little bit and chop downward again. Repeat this until you get within 1/4″ of the other end of your mortise and stop. I said stop! Just like the beginning, don’t chop on this line either…at least not yet. Flip the chisel around and repeat the chopping process going the other way, trying to start the chisel’s bevel on an unchopped spot. Your hole will get deeper and deeper.

Warnings: I try not to wiggle the chisel sideways when pulling it out of the mortise because I don’t want to alter the width of the hole. I also try not to use my mortise chisel to pry loose chips/chunks out of the mortise. Just keep chopping through those chips. If they really be come cumbersome, use an awl to remove the chips, but don’t ruin your mortise edges when prying. When you’ve marched back & forth down the mortise a couple times (and relieved the pressure) you can go ahead and place the mortise chisel just shy of each line and drive straight down to create a clean mortise wall.

How do you know when to stop chopping? I use my combination square and adjust it’s length to match my tenon’s length:

Presto! You now have a perfect depth gauge…just stick it in the mortise to see how close you are to your final mortise depth:

When your combination square bottoms out, then it’s time to stop chopping.

Note: If you are chopping a through-tenon you would just repeat this marking & chopping process on the other side, and meet in the middle. You shouldn’t try to exit through one side…it’ll give a nasty exit wound. Alright, back to normal mortises:

Now grab your 1/4″ bench chisel (or smaller) and pare/trim the inside edges of the mortise until they look vertical.

But don’t pare too much or the joint may become too loose.

Try dry fitting your tenon first to see how tight it is. Don’t force the tenon into the mortise with a heavy mallet blow, or the mortise could split. I prefer using just my hands:

If your joint feels too tight, but your mortise walls look nice and vertical, then don’t pare the mortise anymore. Turn your attention to trimming the tenon instead. You can trim it using a shoulder plane or a wood chisel. Just take small cuts then retest the fit.

But don’t let all this trimming & paring scare you. If you followed this tutorial, then you shouldn’t have to do much trimming, if any at all. Hand pressure, or a few light taps with a mallet should seat the tenon in tightly.

The more mortise and tenon joints you make the faster you’ll get at it!

Conclusion

Congratulations! You can now cut the most important joint in traditional woodworking! Now choose a project that has a good number of mortise & tenon joints so you can reinforce what you just learned. Please comment below if you have questions or tips on making a mortise and tenon joint.

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