T riming Tenon To Fit Mortise

[pollys13]

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Tenoning-Jig/H7583
This is the tenoning jig I bought to use in my new tablesaw. I thought it would produce accurate enough results.
Reading up a bit more, to get a suitable " friction " fit I might need to trim the cheeks of a tenon to fit the mortise. I could use a rabbating block plane to get the tenon cheeks just the right fit?
A rabbet plane in an available blade width size I assume will be ok for window sash tenons?
Someone said to use a Record 073 shoulder plane to trim the tenon cheeks, perhaps also a firmer chisel. That said, the Record 073 is 1-1/4″ wide
whereas a house door tenon could be around 2-1/2". Using the Record wouldn't produce a uniform cut all along the tenon.
I've read about a router plane but I don't think that would be suitable for a house door tenon.
Any help appreciated,
Thanks.

 

[PAC1]

The tenon jig if properly set up is capable of micro adjustment to get the correct fit
It is standard practice to move a plane along the length of the tenon in progressive cuts so one cut tight to the shoulder one in the middle and one at the end and repeat as necessary. The idea of one perfect cut over the entire tenon with a plane is simply a lack of practical experience
Router planes are good for fitting tenons as you can micro adjust the depth but would not be my choice for a large door.
Woodworking is not like engineering we do not work to tollerence and flatness but making things work. You have to look at each tenon individually and make it fit the specific tenon and mark the mortice and tenon as a pair. It is not unusual for a perfect fit in one mortice to be poor in another mortice.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Hi Polly
Although that jig will produce good tenons, it is, as you have found out, a pain to set up to get it right.

I, too, cut tenons on the TS, but I don't have to trim mine at all, they fit straight off the saw. Perfectly. Always.

There is a YT advert for it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XXftwASnK8

 

[PAC1]

Steve, having used both the Grizzly and your jig, the Grizzly Jig is capable of the same accuracy on each cheek. Your jig has the benefit of the pre set offset for the thickness of the tenon. It is possible to make a pre set offset for the Grizzly by simply inserting the required additional thickness on the face of the jig and then clamping the rail. Same effect slightly different technique.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Absolutely right, Peter, but it has to be right for the blade and it is double clamping. But yes, you could do it that way if you want.
But clearly some people have difficulty getting it right, otherwise the tenons wouldn't need trimming at all.

 

[pollys13]

The tenon jig if properly set up is capable of micro adjustment to get the correct fit
It is standard practice to move a plane along the length of the tenon in progressive cuts so one cut tight to the shoulder one in the middle and one at the end and repeat as necessary. The idea of one perfect cut over the entire tenon with a plane is simply a lack of practical experience
Router planes are good for fitting tenons as you can micro adjust the depth but would not be my choice for a large door.
Woodworking is not like engineering we do not work to tollerence and flatness but making things work. You have to look at each tenon individually and make it fit the specific tenon and mark the mortice and tenon as a pair. It is not unusual for a perfect fit in one mortice to be poor in another mortice.

OK thanks for that.

Couple of days ago I ordered a copy of Hybrid Woodworking, Blending Power & Hand Tools.
It covers cleaning up a tenon;

A shoulder plane is quite narrow and requires several passes to clean up the tenon cheeks. Perhaps causing unevenness and even gouges on the tenon cheek as well as inconsistent tenon thickness.
A block plane, the blade does not extend all the way to the sides of the plane body, which means the cut would be short of the tenon shoulder. A rabbeting block plane is significantly wider and covers more on each pass.
If there are various types of rebating, rabbeting block planes, low angle, whatever,which would be the most suited to my purpose, tenons on doors and smaller tenons on window sash?
I've looked on Ebay and Googled couldn't find very much are there reasonable priced ones, reasonable quality ones around? I've seen the Veritas type ones and..... the very high prices. Nice tools are nice, that said I'm not into collecting pretty tools and putting in a display cabinet to admire
Cheers.

 

[PAC1]

I have a Lee Nielsen Rabbeting plane which is good but expensive. If you only have a few use the widest chisel you have. Sharpen it and take very fine slices off.
You could set up the Grizzly jig and use the micro adjuster to sneak up on a fit. Slow but will do the job and will not cost anything. Set it so the already cut cheek is just touching the tooth and then just wind it out say half a turn of the screw. Check which face needs adjusting and just slowly fit each tenon

 

[mickthetree]

Another rebating block plane?

 

[custard]

If there are various types of rebating, rabbeting block planes, low angle, whatever,which would be the most suited to my purpose, tenons on doors and smaller tenons on window sash?
I've looked on Ebay and Googled couldn't find very much are there reasonable priced ones, reasonable quality ones around? I've seen the Veritas type ones and..... the very high prices. Nice tools are nice, that said I'm not into collecting pretty tools and putting in a display cabinet to admire

Shoulder planes and rebating block planes are some of the most technically demanding tools from a toolmaker's perspective. Even the smallest departure from "perfect" will render the tool unsatisfactory. There are many tools where, with a lot of hard work, you can fettle them back to decent performance, unfortunately these aren't in that category. If you can't run to a really good brand then don't waste your money on a cheaper substitute. When Stanley announced they were relaunching the "Sweetheart" brand with a shoulder plane lots of people got excited that at last here might be an affordable option. They were very disappointed to find it was a poor performer (google the reviews and see for yourself). A broad chisel, well prepared with a perfectly flat back, is a good, cheap option. It's painstaking work to do accurately, but it can be done and you'll be a better craftsman for having done it.

Having said that, the best option is a perfectly fitting tenon straight from the machine. Personally I prefer cutting tenons with a router because of the relative ease of micro adjusting the depth of cut. But that said I'm only cutting tenons for furniture scale projects and I also cut a lot of loose tenons for chairs so my router based approach is pretty well sorted. I've seen really nice tenons cut in the US on a table saw so it can be done, but like all these things you have to be mentally prepared to spend a lot of time tweaking the fit with scrap stock, if you try and rush it you'll almost certainly end up with a poor job.

Good luck!

 

[mickthetree]

I have a clone of that tenon jig and I have to say the micro adjust is just fantastic. There is a bit of slop in the adjuster so if you overdo it you need to pull it back and have another go, but I made some beds recently for my boys and with one scrap of off cut I dialled in the exact fit pretty quickly and cut them all. They were however all central on the rails so pretty easy to just flip them.

Tenons straight from the table saw. I assumed that this was how they were done? Or did I just get lucky?

The long rails were too long to cut on the jig so I used a router and again being central it was very easy to get an exact fit.

 

[dzj]

After a tenoning jig, if necessary, do the trimming on a router table. You can't go wrong.

 

[pollys13]

I have a Lee Nielsen Rabbeting plane which is good but expensive. If you only have a few use the widest chisel you have. Sharpen it and take very fine slices off.
You could set up the Grizzly jig and use the micro adjuster to sneak up on a fit. Slow but will do the job and will not cost anything. Set it so the already cut cheek is just touching the tooth and then just wind it out say half a turn of the screw. Check which face needs adjusting and just slowly fit each tenon

I will have a play with the micro adjuster and see how I get on, and a wide chisel if I need to.
I have a Dewalt 625 router and Triton table. If I need to I will try that way too.
Cheers.

 

[pollys13]

Thanks everybody for the input.

 

[marcros]

i use a rasp for trimming tenon cheeks. worth a thought.

 

[pollys13]

i use a rasp for trimming tenon cheeks. worth a thought.

I'm using hardwood rasping the tenons round, I thought as a novice I thought using a mortising chisel to square the slots would be more straightforward for me.