Shopsmith Forums

I agree with Chuck that slip tenons are the way to go. Instead of each tenon being cut to fit its matching mortise you can make all your tenons at one thickness at one time - better use that thickness planer though.

I decided to go this route a couple of years ago building open bookcases for the inspiring one. Since I had around 50 m&t joints on each of 2 bookcases there was NO WAY I was going to labor over 100 tenons to fit.

I built a auto-centering mortising jig from FWW and it was easy to complete the job - well a lot of work, but much less that cutting tenons. Just use the repetitive plunge-move-upbit motion (does that make sense?) to assure even walls where the long grain is. IMO this is faster and cleaner than a mortising machine. A through loose tenon takes time, but just as much as a fitted tenon.

I left the mortises rounded on the ends from the router bit and slightly chamfered the tenons (all at once btw). That left me a little wiggle-room at each joint to assure alignment but still provide a solid joint.

I even recently used a through slip tenon that I wedged since I found myself in a not-so-good endgrain situation. But I would have wedged a fitted tenon for the same reason.

Forrest

No pictures today. I still didn't finish them. I finished assembly and everything went together well. I routed a roundover all the way around. Went to hang them, and realized two things. 1) I didn't have appropriate hinges. 2) When I measured the width of the doors, I failed to take into consideration the swing clearance between the doors. So I'm going to have to trim them down a bit. Not really a problem to run them through the table saw and take off 1/4" on each side, but with the lack of hinges and getting fed up with myself, I just leaned them against the wall, cleaned up the shop, then took care of some "honey-do" items I've been letting slip.

I still have 3 more doors to make for another part of the cabinet, but I think I'll use the loose/floating/slip tenons.

heathicus wrote:No pictures today. I still didn't finish them. I finished assembly and everything went together well. I routed a roundover all the way around. Went to hang them, and realized two things. 1) I didn't have appropriate hinges. 2) When I measured the width of the doors, I failed to take into consideration the swing clearance between the doors. So I'm going to have to trim them down a bit. Not really a problem to run them through the table saw and take off 1/4" on each side, but with the lack of hinges and getting fed up with myself, I just leaned them against the wall, cleaned up the shop, then took care of some "honey-do" items I've been letting slip.

I still have 3 more doors to make for another part of the cabinet, but I think I'll use the loose/floating/slip tenons.

Taper cut the door center edges. Provides opening clearance while maintaining small gap when closed.


Make that 'bevel', not taper!

rpd wrote:No need to imagine,
Paul Sellers cuts a mortise and tenon joint by hand, in oak

It was watching one of Sellers' videos that taught me about checking out the pattern of the wood to decide where to put a mortise. Until then I had no clue that moving it along the grain plus or minus a few inches can make the difference between a long lasting joint and one that might fail.

I watched Sellers' video from start to finish. If he pegs the tenon, fine. Otherwise where does the glue go in such a tight fit (hammers it on???)?

And his last shot shows a fairly large gap at the through tenon.

I am not a really good woodworker, but I am not impressed with his technique nor with his result.

And yes, a 3 degree bevel (not taper, thanks JPG) on the leading edge of a door makes it easier to close in a tight fit.

Forrest

forrestb wrote:I watched Sellers' video from start to finish. If he pegs the tenon, fine. Otherwise where does the glue go in such a tight fit (hammers it on???)?

And his last shot shows a fairly large gap at the through tenon.

I am not a really good woodworker, but I am not impressed with his technique nor with his result.

And yes, a 3 degree bevel (not taper, thanks JPG) on the leading edge of a door makes it easier to close in a tight fit.

Forrest

The thickness of the door and the swing width determine the necessary bevel angle. The distance from the hinge pivot to the back edge of the door must not exceed the distance from the hinge pivot to the opposite door front edge.

That's great info!

This is another reminder that I personally learn best by doing. Watching woodworkers on TV and web videos is great, but it doesn't replace hands on experience.

JPG40504 wrote:The thickness of the door and the swing width determine the necessary bevel angle. The distance from the hinge pivot to the back edge of the door must not exceed the distance from the hinge pivot to the opposite door front edge.

Might it be possible to get a sketch of the above? I think I get it but a sketch would confirm what I think I now know about this issue. Thanks for all you do for this forum. I for one, and I'm sure others, have gained a lot from your posts. I appreciate the time and effort you put into the posts you make.

At the time of my first post I did not have an open example of how I do slip tenons. These pix are of table legs in progress. They show what I meant by chamfering the tenon edges and cutting them a bit shy of the mortise length. I get a very slight amount of adjustment at assembly and still have plenty of glue surface.
Forrest

fixit wrote:Might it be possible to get a sketch of the above? I think I get it but a sketch would confirm what I think I now know about this issue. Thanks for all you do for this forum. I for one, and I'm sure others, have gained a lot from your posts. I appreciate the time and effort you put into the posts you make.

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