Which Comes First: The Mortise or the Tenon?
I recently received an email inquiring about the reason I made the tenon before the mortise in my new book, Joined: A Bench Guide to Furniture Joinery. I knew I’d be asked this one as I’ve taught it the other way around before. In my article in Issue Four, I wrote, “I prefer tackling mortises first.” The truth is that in regular shop practice, it just depends on my mood. The reason it doesn’t matter is because I size both the mortise and the tenon to the width of the mortise chisel. The only advantage to chopping the mortise first is that you can final-fit the tenon right away, rather than waiting to pare it after the mortise is chopped....