I’m building a writing desk and will join my 4″ apron to a 2″ tapered leg – the tenon will be 3/8 thick, 1″ long and 3″ wide. In my opinion, the amount of movement across the 3″ tenon on a 4″ apron will not be significant (using cherry for the apron) and I will glue the 3″ tenon in a mortise of the same depth, size and width. A friend of mine argues that I should cut the tenon width back to something just under 3″ to allow for expansion of the apron. Again, it seems to me that the tenon should match the mortise at 3″ wide. Thoughts, comments, opinions?
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You are right. The tennon should match the mortise. I leave it a little short of bottoming out to give extra glue a place to go and I undercut the shoulder a little sometimes. When I use a router to cut the mortise I leave the slot rounded at top and bottom and round over the top and bottom of the tennon for an exact fit. Making the tennon less than three inches would weaken the joint I think.
Perhaps your friend was thinking of the tennon on the end of a table top that fits into a breadboard end and is pinned with a dowel. There the tennon must be less wide than the mortise. It is part of the whole table top and the whole top can expand and contract a lot. What makes that work is that the tennon is not glued in. just pegged into an enlongated hole to allow it to move.
Thanks Swenson - case closed!
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