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Handmade Mortise and Tenon Joints

Learn to make four kinds of mortise and tenon joints with hand tools.

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Handmade Mortise and Tenon Joints

Handmade Mortise and Tenon Joints

Learn to make four kinds of mortise and tenon joints with hand tools.

Pricing
  • Member Registration
    $ 242.00
  • Guest Registration
    $ 299.00
Tuition Assistance and Policies
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About

Mortise and tenon joints are one of the most common types of joinery in furniture making. This class focuses on four variations — blind, drawbore, through, and wedged mortise and tenons.

You'll learn how to make mortises, cut tenons (and repair them when things don’t work out so well), make dowels, and apply these skills to your joinery. The crowning achievement will be what is widely recognized as the strongest joint in woodworking — the wedged mortise and tenon — a beautiful and virtually indestructible joint.  

The instructor will introduce and teach the proper use of tools you may be unfamiliar with, such as a spokeshave, dowel maker, router plane, and brace and bit.

Details

  • Skill Level: Intermediate. Most of the time will be spent learning to make the joints, rather than learning to use basic hand woodworking tools. You should have experience with layout tools, saws, chisels, and planes.
  • This is not a project class. You'll make samples of each type of joint. 

Materials

A $20 materials fee, included in the cost of the class, covers everything you need.

Prerequisites

You must have taken Woodworking Basics: Hand Tools or have experience with basic hand woodworking tools, such as layout tools, saws, chisels, and planes.

Class Policies

  • Ages 14 and up are welcome.
  • You must wear closed-toe shoes.
Instructor
Tom Leurquin

Tom Leurquin has been a BARN member since its opening and specializes in projects involving hand tools. After taking several hand tool courses at BARN and the Port Townsend School of Woodworking, he fell in love with the intimacy and meditative aspects of working wood by hand. His civil engineering background has helped him achieve a critical eye for detail and precision that enriches the art of hand tool woodworking.

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