Yesterday in my Chippendale chair class something pricked at me a bit. We were discussing compound angle tenons for the seat rails of our chair and we were focusing on how we will set up to cut these on the table saw. Someone spoke up and exclaimed how glad they were (in a relieved way) that we didn’t have to cut these by hand as we did the post tenons that join to the crest rail. It dawned on me…why are people so afraid to cut joints, in this case mortise and tenon specifically, by hand?
If you put it in the context of its core, sawing tenons is nothing more then simply sawing straight lines over a distance and then stopping accurately. At some level shouldn’t we all be able to saw a straight line? All that being said, I urge all of you go out, grab your saws and squares, draw some lines and saw away. It’s a very valuable skill.
And now….a photo of my chair back….
Life through wood 
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