T
he mor tise and
tenon joint is one of
the oldest and
undoubtedly the
most frequently used
joint in woodworking. There are
many versions of the joint and
equally many different ways of
cutting it. Router users tend to
make jigs; one for the mor tise
and one for the tenon. Trend
have now introduced a jig that
cuts both mor tise and tenon.
Moreover, it cuts both halves of
the joint from a single setting
of the jig. By setting up to cut
the tenon, the jig is
automatically set to cut the
mortise. This means that the
orthodox method of cutting the
mortise first and then making
the tenon to fit it no longer
applies; it is convenient to cut
tenons first.
The capacity of the jig, for
orthodox mor tise and tenon
joints, is timber of
1
⁄2in to 2in
thickness and mortise widths
of
3
⁄16in to 5⁄8in. These
dimensions are given with
approximate metric equivalents
on the packaging and give an
indication that the jig is of
North American origin. Other
unmistakable signs are that all
the cutters and guide bushes
are in imperial measure and
there is an optional set of the
American ‘Por ter Cable’ pattern
brass guide bushes with scr ew
rings to fasten them.
Photo 1 above shows the
components of the jig and its
accessories. The instructions
52
Routing 50
On Test
Trend
Mortise and Tenon Jig
Ron Fox is one of the first to try out Trend’s latest new product designed to simplify
mortise and tenon joint cutting with the router
1
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August/September 2002
53
tell you to screw it to the
bench, but I mounted the test
model on a length of MDF and
clamped this to the bench top.
Whichever way you do it, the
essential thing is that the jig is
mounted on a firm, stable
sur face.
Tenons
The jig is based on sliding
plates with which are used with
guide bushes and cutters of
different diameters according
to the size of the joint. Photo 2
shows it being set up for
cutting the tenon. The markedup workpiece is clamped
vertically in the jig, and the two
plates of the template are
being set with the special
setting bar that comes with the
jig. Timber should be marked
on its face and clamped in the
jig with the face side inwards
i.e. against the ver tical plate. It
is also impor tant that the top
plate should be parallel to the
sides of the timber when
centring. If it is not, mortises
and tenons will be cut skew.
All tenons are cut with a
5
⁄8in
diameter straight cutter; the
various widths of tenon are
controlled by the choice of
guide bush. The template, with
its rounded inner ends, gives a
rounded tenon which will fit
into the rounded mor tise
without further handwork.
However, the plates of the
template can be reversed to
give square-ended tenons if
desired.
With the jig set up, a guide
bush is selected to give a
tenon with its width as near as
possible equal to one-third the
thickness of the workpiece. A
chart on the setting-up bar
gives the relationship between
tenon width and guide-bush
diameter. The tenon widths
possible equate to the dif ferent
diameter mor tise cutters.
Five plastic guide bushes
and one steel one are supplied
as standar d with the jig, plus a
guide bush collar for cutting the
tenons. These are standard
Trend-fitting bushes and will
attach directly to a wide range
of routers, but for non Trendcompatible models the Trend
Unibase or the circular subbase can be used to adapt the
bushes.
With the appropriate guide
bush and the
5
⁄
8in cutter in the
router the tenon is cut in a
series of light passes
proceeding in a clockwise
direction around the template.
On the face of it, this breaks
the rule of ‘anti-clockwise
On Test
Trend 0800 487363
www.trendmachinery.co.uk
Prices
MT/JIG £176.19
Set/MT1 Cutters £46.94
MT/DUSTKIT £11.69
These are list prices and
include VAT.
Further
information
The jig being set up for a tenon
The resulting tenon. Note rounded ends
Mortise being cut
2 3
4
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