Tenoning Jigs Panama City FL

Tenoning Jigs

Tenoning jigs make the complicated world of mortise-and-tenon joinery a lot simpler. I've used a homemade wooden jig for years. I stand a rail upright on the tablesaw and clamp it to a tall box that slides on my fence. Most shop-made jigs have two drawbacks, though. First, they must be modified for different types of joints. Second, your fist is the only way to make a fine adjustment to the tablesaw fence. I kept telling myself to look into something better, but the only commercially made jig available a few years ago, the venerable Delta 34-172, didn't tilt and was hard to adjust.

A new generation of redesigned jigs has changed everything (see Chart, click here ). They cost as little as $60, are fully adjustable and are extremely accurate. They fit both left- and right-tilt saws. After trying seven different models, I'm ready to honorably retire my beat-up wooden jig and move on.

All tenoning jigs are remarkably similar, with comparable features and adjustments. Even the least expensive model will give you excellent results.

Most Tenoning Jigs Are Alike


All seven tenoning jigs I tried are surprisingly similar. Remove the handles, paint all the jigs the same color and you would have a hard time telling them apart. Taking a closer look, though, I did find some subtle but important differences. Let's examine their common features first.

Work support. This 5-in.-wide by 6-in.-tall cast-iron plate holds the workpiece. It tilts from 0 to 17 degrees (see Photo 1, below). You can cut steeper angles by tilting the saw blade. On a left-tilt saw, I turn the jig around and run it in the right-hand miter slot when I tilt the blade for steeper angles. This may not work on all saws, however.

Clamp arm. This adjusts forward or backward a total of 2 in. to center the clamp on the workpiece.

Backstop. The backstop tilts backward from 0 to 45 degrees (see Photo 1, below).

Sliding table. The table moves 2-3/8 in. to adjust the distance between the blade and work support.

Coarse adjustment. Loosening a knob allows you to slide the table. Many times, though, you must strike the table with your hand to get it going. That gets old real fast. Lubrication doesn't help much.

Fine adjustment. Turning a knob allows you to fine-tune the sliding table's position. One rotation of the knob moves the table a bit less than 1/16 in. The fine adjustment works so well that I usually skip using the coarse adjustment.

4 User-Friendly Features
Some jigs have additional features that make them easier to set up, adjust and use (see Chart, click here ).

Adjustable guide bar. Some guide bars can be adjusted to fit tightly in your saw's miter slot. This must-have feature increases accuracy by preventing the jig from wiggling as you cut a tenon. The adjustment consists of a pair of set screws in the guide bar, similar to those on premium miter gauges.

Above-jig guide-bar alignment. You must align a new...

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