Shop-made Mortise Jig | Popular Woodworking

Job-specific tooling. A mortise-and-tenon joint is one of the strongest, most useful joints in woodworking. With scraps from the waste bin, you can create a jig that does the job and is simple to use.

You don’t need fancy tools or a special machine to create a traditional joint.

Reproduction furniture is my main focus in woodworking, so I think one of the most important construction joints is a mortise-and-tenon joint – and not simply the use of a stub tenon, but a full-blown tenon that ranges between 1″ and 11⁄4” in length depending on the project and if there’s adequate depth in the material.

Due to the number of these joints I make, I have a dedicated mortising machine. But if you need to create a mortise and tenon and you don’t have a dedicated machine to use, whip up this simple jig from a few scraps of wood and use a plunge router, a properly sized…