Introducing the 'Tongue Trick'

A handplane makes tenon cheeks easy to saw.

Sawing accurate tenons by hand is difficult to teach. You show students the procedure, and then the best thing to say is: “Practice that 100 times. Then you’ll be ready.”

There are lots of wheezes, tricks and kludges that try to make sawing tenons easier. This article is my contribution to the literature.

In handwork, starting the tool is wildly important. If you start a cut correctly, there’s a good chance it will end well. If you start a cut wonkily, it’s a fight to the messy and ugly and crunked-up finish.

This is true with sawing tenons. Sawing the tenon’s face cheek requires you to lay in an accurate kerf along as much as 6" of end grain. Once you get the saw started correctly, then the rest is pretty easy.

Here is a trick that I stumbled on while making tons of tongues, grooves and tenons for “The American Peasant.” Don’t start the tenon cheek with a saw. Instead, start it with a plane (the Stanley or Lie-Nielsen No. 48 to be precise).

The Lie-Nielsen version of the No. 48 cuts a per…