I’m about to embark on what I’ll call my first “real” project, one that will be made slowly, carefully to the very best of my humble ability. The project is an occaisonal table and I need to join the apron to the legs. This joint needs to be very stong since there is not a cross support further down the leg anywhere. I figured on just using a M&T, but then thought that since the apron is 4″ wide, that a 3″ tennon would develop a lot of movement with seasonal change and weaken the mortise/joint. I figured a double M&T with two 1″ tennons would do the trick, but this doubles the opportunity for me to screw up. I though a 3″ long sliding dovetail might work if I made the tail 3/8″ too short and only glued the bottom. In short help. I’m not 100% against the double M&T, but again lots of room to screw up. Let me know what you think. Thanks!!!
-Art K.
Replies
You didn't mention if you are a rookie or not - if you have a router, a simple and strong joint is the sliding dovetail.
In the leg, cut a slot with the dovetail bit. On the apron, using the dovetail bit, remove materail from each side until the apron slides into the slot.
Quite easy, quite strong.
Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
In my experience, a 3" wide tenon should be no problem.
Art ,
No matter which joint you choose to use , IMO you should reinforce the corners with nicely fitted corner blocks , glued and screwed . Make sure you don't screw into the joint in any way to weaken it . Even if you doweled the joints and used a corner block this will make for a strong corner . Often times I will use 8/4 corner blocks to increase the glue surface and area to fasten them .
good luck dusty
A 3" tenon should be fine. The Shakers built a multitude of tables, all generally w/out bottom stretchers..and generally using M&T construction.
The length of your "tenon" on a sliding dovetail setup is likely to be very short. enabling much more "Racking that a 1" - 1.5" tenon in a tight-fitting mortis.
Thats what I'd do. My $.02
lp
Art you didn't give us enough of the other dimensions to clearly visualize what you are contemplating. Having said that I am guessing that unless you are using a leg that is pretty large, there is not likely to be enough wood to do a double, if you mean side by side tenon. While you would be increasing and strengthening the tenon portion of the joint, you are likely to be taking too much wood away from the top of the leg destroying its integrity. The two inside tenons may be meeting and be fairly short unless the legs are fairly large.
Back to the single tenon idea. The farther from the inside corner you can position them, the longer each can be before they interfere with each other. At that point, you can break them into finger which bypass each other inside the leg.
I am with the others in regards to not being worried about movement in 3" of normal seasonal movement. Today's joinery glues have enough elasticity to hold up this small amount of movement without breaking down.
As you plan your joints remember that as you try to add-to or strengthen the tenons you may be taking away too much / weakening the legs. Finding balance is the name of the game.
I'd use haunched tenons with the ends mitered where they meet in the mortise(s)
Art
Use a simple M&T - been doing it that way for years without a problem, I think anything else is overkill unless you want to do it for the sake of practice or personal satisfaction.
Don
Thanks a alot everyone. M&T it is, with a corner block for fun (if it doesn't get in the way of the drawer[perhaps beneath the drawer]). Anyway, thanks again I love this message board, good advice galore.
-Art K.
On my workbench now is a pair of end tables with 4" aprons. I used a double 1.25" floating M/T to join the pieces. A simple jig allowed all mortises to be routed quickly, and tenon stock was made by thicknessing scrap lengths to the proper thickness for a good fit. It's a strong joint.
Art,
Here's another vote for the sliding dovetail. I've built several tables using this method to join the aprons to the legs. I stopped the slot about a half inch shorter than the width of the apron and cut the tail on the apron by easing into the width I needed.
Regards,
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting
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Hi Art. I would not be too concerned about the cross grain movement in a 3" tenon, but if I was I would just make the mortise about 1/8" longer and only glue the bottom half of the tenon. This wil give you plenty of room for movement. But as I said, I wouldn't worry about it. Peter
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