Mortise and tenon practice joints. Getting the fit right takes patience.
Spent the morning making test joints in poplar before cutting into the good oak. There’s no substitute for practice when it comes to traditional joinery.
The Setup
Laid out the mortises using my new marking gauge, then removed the bulk of the waste with the hollow chisel mortiser. This leaves square, clean walls but requires hand-tuning for a perfect fit.
Cut the tenons on the table saw using my crosscut sled and dado stack. Took multiple passes, sneaking up on the final dimension. It’s much easier to remove a little more material than to add it back.
Fitting the Joint
The ideal mortise and tenon joint slides together with hand pressure and requires a mallet tap to fully seat. Too loose and the glue joint will be weak; too tight and you risk splitting the mortise walls during assembly.
Used a shoulder plane to fine-tune the tenon cheeks and a float to smooth the mortise walls. The first test joint was slightly tight, so I took two more passes with the shoulder plane – about 0.005″ off each cheek. Second attempt: perfect.
Lessons Learned
Consistency matters more than perfection. If all your joints are slightly tight or slightly loose, you can adjust your process. Random variation is the enemy – it means your setup or technique isn’t consistent.
Made six practice joints total. Ready to cut into the real material tomorrow.
