mortise and tenon and wood movement

martin007 | Posted in Gary Rogowski on September 9, 2008 06:05am

Hi Gary

I am building a workbench and I must join the legs and stretcher together

I wonder if I should build the joint tight or leave some space for wood movement. The stretchers (tenon) are 5 inch in width by one inch tick.

thanks

Martin

user-148830 | Sep 11, 2008 01:14am | #1
Hey Martin,
I use 4" wide tenons but I wedge them. So I take the mortise all the way through and then the tenon with an extra 3" or so. Then I mortise through the tenon and run a wedge. It's a great joint.

Your method of gluing up the tenons will work, but I would pin the joint as well. Personally I'd break the tenons into two smaller ones, say 2" wide with a 1" haunch between them, just to help minimize the movement issues you may encounter over time. Good luck. Gary

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