I have read a lot about planning for wood movement when joining two pieces of wood, and I have even experienced bad joints from not allowing for such movement. However, I have never seen mention of it when using a mortise and tenon joint. Yet, the two pieces in such a joint, such as found in attaching an apron to a leg of a table, appear to me like they could move so as to loosen or overly tighten the joint. What am I missing?
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Replies
Dr. Dan,
Well you're right about movement issues in joinery. I addressed this issue in my book on joinery, The Complete Illustrated Guide to Joinery. When tenons get over about 3" wide, then movement issues can come into play. Minimize the shrinkage of a wide tenon by dividing it into smaller tenons. The hope is that each tenon will move less.
Expansion I think of as less of an issue due to the inevitable long grain compression in a joint. This assumes that the end grain section of the mortise has enough strength/length in it to hold the tenon.
Another solution is to haunch a wide tenon and not glue the haunched section to allow for movement in it.
I hope this helps. Gary
Gary,
Thank you much for the very clear answer. Since I am working with 4" wide boards for the aprons on my table, I will haunch the tenons just to be safe. I have your book on Router Joinery, but I didn't realize you had one on Joinery in general. I'll have to pick it up.
Thanks,Dr. Dan
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