Replies

1. 
   DonaldCBrown | May 13, 2003 08:55pm | #1

   Ernest Joyce's Encyclopedia of Furniture Making suggests that a tenon be about a third the thickness of the stock in which it is milled and about two-thirds the width of the stock. With your 3x5 rail, that would be  a 1" thick tenon about 3-3/8" wide.

   Joyce doesn't offer any guidelines for tenon length/mortixe depth, though frequently the mortise depth is about two-thirds the width of the stock into which the tenon fits.

   There is a lot of leeway in these guideslines, and, for lightly loaded joints, almost any dimensions will work. So you might more properly be guided by the size of the tools (bits, chisels, whatever) you have available to make the joint.

   
   

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   Edited 5/13/2003 2:07:15 PM ET by Donald C. Brown