Loose tenon issue

The oven is your best bet. Try 350 degrees for about 1/2 hour to an hour and then put them in a plastic bag until ready for use. Otherwise you may just hammer them to re-compress. Works too.
gene

-- gene@toronto.ontario.canada : dovetail free since '53, critiques always welcome.

For future reference, I wouldn’t mill them until you’re ready to glue up the project.

BTDT. :-(

-- He who dies with the most tools... dies with the emptiest wallet.

It’s a true blue double whammy you got there: Moisture not only makes the tenons expand, it makes the mortises shrink!

Some folks have dried out biscuits in wet climes using a microwave. Considered that? Oh, right, Bed parts. Not to practical, duh!

Will a few strokes with a rasp bring a tenon to dimension?

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"

Maybe a blowdryer

Another vote for the oven but I would go with about 200F for several hours.

-- Woodworking shouldn't cost a fortune: http://lowbudgetwoodworker.blogspot.com/

I’ve been using slot mortisers and loose tenons for 30 years. We keep tenon stock milled close to size and rip to width, double chamfer the edges on the table saw (rounding the edges is not necessary unless they are through tenons and decorative) and crosscut to length for each project. We just take a sheet of sandpaper and a few swipes and they are good to go. 30 years and never a problem. Don’t forget most glues have water in them and wll cause some swelling anyway. You are over thinking the problem.

-- Few folks really know how to maximize the potential of their tools!