Making a Mortise - Chisel & Drill

A mortise & tenon joint is a basic technique used in joining two pieces of wood. The technique is old although the means of achieving it has changed through the years.

Charles Neil shows you one of the ways he makes a mortise using a chisel and a drill.

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Category:

Howto & Style

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• woodworker
• woodworking
• charles
• neil
• furniture

[LilMAnderson]

What kind of bit was that second one? I love the Ryobi drill, I bought the kit and could build a house with it.

[InTheWorkshop]

second bit was a 1/2 " brad point

[HPAREUSELESS]

youe the MAN!

[odmcarp]

using that block to guide the chisel is a good idea

[HollyLimbo]

Thought it was something like that, but now I know how to keep the sides vertical. No need to feel intimidated. You're good enough to teach me. Thank you from a happy Scot !

[NancyToday]

The connection in here is too slow for watching this! :( I'll have to try to remember o come back again later!

[madwilliamflint]

Nicely done sir! Thanks for the vid. Gonna go cut my first mortise now.

[DJGriff2002]

@daw162

Mission style furniture came out in the late 1800s, around 1889ish. There probably wasn't too many power tools around then, most folks like it for the clean lines and simple styling, I like it too, the simple styling makes most of the pieces I've seen very durable and they don't fall apart over time. Very functional, common sense, kinda furnishing. It really is nice n simple stuff.

[urrey2]

Very informative, thanks

[riecard]

Just an idea, next time try making a spacer like you did for the drill but for a jig saw a bit taller then the one for the drill so the blade wont bottom out in the holes. Drill your holes first and space them bout a 16th apart so the bit don't slip and use the spacer with the jig saw to clean out most of it holding the jig saw at a slight angle. Then clean out the last of it with the chisel and you'll save some time and less chance of cutting your self like I did hopefully.

[mileage420]

that takes long man

[deezynar]

@daw162

I'm w/ you all the way about woodworking, except that I love Mission style furniture for how it looks.

[daw162]

Can't speak for people drilling out small mortises. It doesn't take that long to chop them by hand, you bring the tool to the work instead of the work to the tool, and you work wood instead of setting up tools. It's pretty simple. Mark it, do it.

Routers suck.

The mark of a hack woodworker - routed edges, sanded surfaces, polyurethane.

The mark of just above hack woodworking - making mission style furniture and thinking it's high end when its design is for easy use of power tools.

[whipple5000]

My God! Why would anyone be doing mortises this way? A decent bench top mortiser is only about $300. It would pay for itself on the first project if you consider the time you'll save.

Even if you didn't have the space for a mortiser, why wouldn't you use a router table to make perfect mortises and then just clean up the corners to make them square?