Hello Matt: <!—-><!—-><!—->
Last night I reviewed past articles online at FWW on M&T joinery. I have seen plenty of discussion on mortise width however, very little on Mortise Depth. Assuming one is not going for thru tenons, is there a rule of thumb as to the depth of a mortise (or the length of a tenon; I know it should be a 1/16 shorter than mortise depth).
Thanks <!—-><!—->
Lyle
Replies
Hi Lyle.
I know I've read an answer to this one but I can't remember where, so until I track down an authoritative source I'm going to make up an answer with a few rules:
1. It should be longer than it is thick. If the general rule is to have the thickness equal to about 1/3 the thickness of the board, the length should be that or more.
2. The heavier the load it will carry, the longer the tenon should be. For example, a table apron carries more load than a frame and panel and therefore the tenon should be longer by proportion.
3. Not too deep that you risk cutting your mortise through the otherside of the workpiece. (I hate it when I do that)
I'll try to track down a better answer this week.
Regards,
Matt Berger
Fine Woodworking
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