Hi,
I am building a classic bookcase which has mortise and tenon joints between the rails (horizontal members) and the 4 legs (vertical members). The author of the design (FW) suggested prefinishing everything before glueing it together. I am at the finishing stage right now, but my question is about whether any glue should be applied to the ends of the rails (end grain) to where they attach to the four legs. I have seen how to apply glue to the tenons, but was not sure if you typically also apply glue to the ends of the rails where they butt (well mortise) to the legs.
The reason I am asking is that when I prefinish urathane the legs, if I get the urathane where the end of the rail mortises, then the glue will probably not hold well. The rail or style ends are about 1/3 the thickness of the legs so they don’t cover the whole area.
I hope this makes sense, its a bit hard to describe without drawing.
thanks
‘mark
Replies
Hi Mark,
No, don't apply glue to the ends of the tenons. First of all, that's end grain which doesn't glue all that well unless cut very cleanly, and second your mortise and tenon joint needs a little room at the bottom of the tenon for excess glue. The end shouldn't be touching at all.
If you're pre-finishing, I would mask off the tenons so you don't get any glue on them. They won't glue up with finish on them. Have fun.
Gary
Hi,First - thank you for your quick reply. I understand what you said and that's very helpful about gluing the tenons.But I am sorry that I must have not stated my whole question clearly. My main question was about applying glue to the ends of the rails where they meet the legs. Let's say the rails are 3" wide, 3/4" thick and 36" long. The legs are 2" x 2" x 48" long. Should I be glueing the end of the rail where it meets the legs? These are mortise and tenon joints, but I am referring to the surface where the rail meets the leg. Because that end is hidden, I would not apply any urethane to it. But since I am pre-finishing the legs of the bookshelf, it becomes difficult to pre-finish it and not get glue where the rail meets the leg.1). Do you normally glue this 90 degree butt joint in addition to the glue on the tenons?2). How do you easily not get finish on the surface area where the rail meets the leg (3" x 3/4").thank you for your patience with my questions,'mark
Hi Mark,
Sorry for my mistake in comprehension. The answer I think lies in how you design and build your work. I rarely have flush surfaces between leg and rail so I don't put glue on the shoulders of my tenons. My joints stay good and tight anyway and I have no clean-up worries. If I were to pre-finish the rails, it wouldn't really matter. Now my friend Phil Lowe who does reproduction work does a lot of work with flush rails and legs/ posts. And he does glue his shoulders. For that type of work, I'd just be careful to brush off the shoulder with my brush rather than onto it scraping excess finish onto the shoulder. Good luck. Gary
Thanks GaryI really enjoy your articles!'mark
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