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Mortise and tenon is a hallmark of craftsmanship, but it doesn't have to be painful. This type of joint can be made easily with no "special" equipment, such as a mortiser, or a tenoning jig. There are as many ways to do M&T as there are to skin a cat ( I suppose, never skinned a cat though ). My personal favorite is mortise and loose tenon with my bosch plunge router.
Mortise and loose tenon VS traditional mortise and tenon:
The difference between these two joints is that with a loose tenon joint, you cut mortises on both pieces (apron and table leg, for instance), then you cut a seperate piece of wood to use as the tenon. In the traditional joint, you cut away material from one piece (apron, for instance) to reveal the tenon. This is somewhat tricky as the fit is dependant mostly on these cuts. With a tenoning jig, any error is doubled, and you go through quite a few test cuts before getting a good fit. With a loose tenon, you can just plane or drum sand the stock down to the proper thickness, which is easily acheived.
Cutters:
You can cut the mortise with a plunge router, and any plungable straight bit, I personlly much prefer a spiral bit. You can plunge the extents of the mortise on the sides, which allows for freehanding the mortise while still acheiving a great fit. That and a round over bit in a router, and making the tenons is a breeze. Keep in mind that these cutters will vary a little in size, so it's a good idea to use calipers to get a good fitting tenon.
The video:
Here is a link to a video showing how to make the parts of this joint...
http://swordandspiritsoftware.com/m&t-web.wmv
Mortise and loose tenon VS traditional mortise and tenon:
The difference between these two joints is that with a loose tenon joint, you cut mortises on both pieces (apron and table leg, for instance), then you cut a seperate piece of wood to use as the tenon. In the traditional joint, you cut away material from one piece (apron, for instance) to reveal the tenon. This is somewhat tricky as the fit is dependant mostly on these cuts. With a tenoning jig, any error is doubled, and you go through quite a few test cuts before getting a good fit. With a loose tenon, you can just plane or drum sand the stock down to the proper thickness, which is easily acheived.
Cutters:
You can cut the mortise with a plunge router, and any plungable straight bit, I personlly much prefer a spiral bit. You can plunge the extents of the mortise on the sides, which allows for freehanding the mortise while still acheiving a great fit. That and a round over bit in a router, and making the tenons is a breeze. Keep in mind that these cutters will vary a little in size, so it's a good idea to use calipers to get a good fitting tenon.
The video:
Here is a link to a video showing how to make the parts of this joint...
http://swordandspiritsoftware.com/m&t-web.wmv