Dave's Wood Working Site

Delta Tenon Jig

Mortise and tenon joinery is very common in furniture construction. The shape of the joint provides a lot of surface area for the glue to adhere to which makes for a strong joint. The tenon can be milled several different ways. A stacked dado can be used with a radial arm saw, or use a router with a straight cutting bit. Both of these methods work well but don't work as well as a tenon jig used on the table saw.

For a number of years now I have used a shop made tenon jig to cut tenons. It worked great at the start but as time went on it started to "loosen up" and just got to the point where it was sloppy. Last spring I made the jump and bought a Delta tenon jig and retired the old MDF wonder.

I have used a Delta planer before and found that it worked well so I went with the Delta tenon jig. Initially it was quite sloppy in the miter slot of my old Rockwell

Delta Tenon Jig

Beaver table saw but by using a hammer and punch to dimple the guide on the jig, now fits and slides smoothly.

The feel of the tenon jig is that of a good tool. It is sturdy and easy to set precisely. Nothing is more frustrating then a guide that moves out of position as you tighten the knob.

Immediately after the first tenon was cut I threw out the shop made one. I wanted to hang on to it in case I didn't like the Delta tenon jig and had to return it. Since it has passed the initial test it gets to hang around for a while. The shop jig worked well but lets face it, the precision just wasn't there and that is what counts when cutting tenons.

If I was to change anything I would get rid of the spring loaded knobs and replace then with a simple threaded knob. This is a minor detail and doesn't really take away from the usability of the Delta tenon jig.

Overall the Delta tenon jig works real good. The adjustments are smooth and precise making fine tuning simple. I wouldn't go as far as to say it is the best tenon jig out there but I would say that it will work great for 95% of the wood workers that use one. I can't imagine what more could be added to this jig to improve it.

Buy your Delta Tenon Jig at Hartville Tools