Rob Johnstone: If you want to make mortise and tenons, without a doubt the workhorse joint of woodworking, you have a wide range of tools and jigs from which to choose -- everything from chopping and cutting them by hand to super-fancy machines. The Leigh Super FMT Mortise and Tenon Jig is a very cool system that allows you to make both the mortise and the tenons using the jig and a handheld router. Although it's not overly complicated, you will need to take a bit of time to learn how to set it up and to use it effectively. After that, it is as slick a system as I've seen. The mortising machines that we reviewed in August 2010 only form a mortise — you have to make the tenon on another piece of equipment. Many woodworkers use their table saw and either a purchased or a shop-made tenoning jig. It is a very workable system that allows you to make a very traditional mortise and tenon joint.

The Leigh FMT jig costs around $500. The combination of a mortising machine and a store-bought tenon jig will run you in the $400 to $600 dollar range (these are all very round numbers here … don't hold me to them). Another tool that will make strong M&T joints with a very slight learning curve is the Festool Domino — which runs into the $800 to $900 dollar range. At the lower end of the price spectrum is the BeadLock system — going for around 20 to 50 bucks. It is a very basic loose tenon system, but it works and is highly affordable. I don't personally recommend any of them — I don't want to inject my personal bias into the discussion because of my job as the editor in chief of a woodworking magazine that reviews these various machines and tools from time to time. Hope this helps.

Tim Inman: Unless you're into a real production environment with one setup for a continuous run, I'd skip the commercial jigs and just use my table saw and a tenon jig. I made a plywood jig many many years ago, and I've used it ever since. Ugly, but quick, handy, satisfying to use -- and cheap. When you're trying to make a profit at this game, cost control is very important. Spending for something you use only once in a while isn't sensible unless that expense is really helpful and will help you pay itself back pretty quickly. Or, if you just like to have a lot of really neat tools around, just in case, then that's different. (I have lots of tools I just admire, while I remember having used them once, long ago, I think...)

Chris Marshall: My favorite way to cut tenons is with a table saw, dado blade and a miter gauge. It's easy to do and inexpensive, plus you can fine-tune the tenon size by carefully adjusting the saw. I own a dedicated tenoning jig but still tend to lean toward the dado blade method anyway.