Hand cutting the mortise and tenon, anyone?

[Dave Bagwill]

I know about the fits at the endgrain!! I too like the idea of the table saw angling the cut.

[TonyinNYC]

Here are the pics I promised:
First, I used my angle finder to determine the angle of the neck block for the box. I then transferred the complimentary angle to the heel of the neck.


Then I clamped the neck into my bench vise and to that I clamped a block of wood that I checked for square against the line where I needed to cut. The block keeps my saw right where it needs to be and also keeps it perpendicular to the face of the cut.


Action shot:



Next, I marked off the width of the tenon so I could see where I needed to cut, lined up my stop block, and went at it:



I was left with this:


Here is how it looked fresh from the saw:


A little sanding and I will be in business. I left it a little fat so I could better fit it to the mortise later.