I want to make a mortise and tenon joint that will be held together with a dowel instead of glue. How can I drill the hole in the mortised stock and the tenon so that they line up accurately and produce a tight joint?
Wood – How to drill a mortise and tenon joint so I can reinforce it with a dowel
jointswoodwoodworking
Related Solutions
To answer your last question - oak will last significantly longer than pine. It can be left untreated and will harden.
If you do use oak then dowels will be the ideal fixing mechanism as metal, particularly iron, will stain the wood.
See the answer to this question on dowel sizes for what size dowel to use.
They should be quite tight and if you get it right, there'll be no need to glue them.
Buy a self centering dowel drilling jig. Lee Valley has them, as will virtually all wood working supply sources, Rockler, for example.
The jig clamps to the end of your board, and then you drill through a hardened drill guide into the board, using a hand drill. These dowel jigs used to be much more common in the days before biscuits, pocket screws, etc.
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Best Answer
The simplest solution is to drill the dowel hole after you fit the joint together.
Fit the joint and make sure everything's square and true, then drill straight through the mortice and tenon in one go and insert the dowel. Chisel/plane and sand it flush and you should be good to go.
Making a mark on the outside of the mortice where you want to drill will ensure you get the location right.