loose tenon joinery

I think that although it is more labor intensive, 2 tenons spread out will be stronger.

-- making sawdust....

with the long span being 60”, I need all the strength I can get. the tenons are going to be around 2” long, at least 1” in each mortise.
Thanks

-- Joey, Magee, Ms http://woodnwaresms.com

Probably the double tenons are a little stronger but either way
is plenty strong. Loose tenon joinery is the strongest type there
is in breakage tests I’ve read.

The ideal solution is to mortise close to the outside of each
leg and actually miter the ends of the tenons so they
have maximum glue area…. but since this table has
beady legs it’s not relevant. If you were building a Hepplewhite
side table with 1.25” wide legs it would be.

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Joey, I’m sorry for jumping into your forum with a question of my own, but this project in near and dear to me. I too am building a table out of old growth heart pine. Mine is 90” x 38”. I used a single tenon, pinned with two dowels. How are you going to attach the top of the table to the legs/aprons?

The strongest joint is the lap joint via this months fine woodworking because of the glue surface. I would also go with the double tenons they look the best also.

-- Sorry I can't stay long my wife is asking me to build something, fix something or pick something up.

I’m thinking of using figure eights spaced about every 6-8”. i’ve used them in the past, and they work really well. but i’ve never used them on anything quite this size. i’ve got to do a little more research. the people i’m building it for are good friends of ours and she’s an interior designer. She gave me a picture from a magazine and said here builld this and i want it out of old wood and this size. I think i did talk her out of staining it. she wanted to white wash it. I’m thinking of going with my standard finish, Maloof finish, and then a couple of good coats of wax on it, buffed to a high sheen.

-- Joey, Magee, Ms http://woodnwaresms.com

Loren – I was just reading Fine Woodworking #208 Feb 2009 today and they have an article on joint strength. They put 18 frame joints to the test. Floating M&T came in #5. Although this was for frames, not table legs/apron.

Same here, except the client is my wife. She saw one at a friends house and said “Do you think you could build that”. I could go back over there and ask to crawl under their table, but I’m holding on to that option for now. I had to google the figure eights to see what you were talking about. My only concern is them being sufficient for lifting the table by the top. Check out my forum question if you care to follow it and see the results. I plan on posting the project when its finished. Thanks for the idea, and I hope your table works out well.

A double tenon has twice as much glue surface as a single tenon.
Mike

-- mike, www.schoolofwood.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE5VDDBh3UI My jig

Lcurrent

-- lcurrent ( It's not a mistake till you run out of wood )

There are a number of advantages to using twin tenons in a situation like this.
(BTW, here in the UK we distinguish between two tenons that are side-by-side -twins – and ones that are in-line, for example a a lock-rail of a door – double tenons)

There is a lot more resistance to racking because of the increased gluing area, and as you can’t wedge them, that could be important. Secondly, as has been pointed out, tenons should be kept to the outside for max length before fouling the neighboring rail. The pair nearing the inside corner will be very short, but the total joint will be superbly strong.

How do you plan to cut the mortices in the ends of the long rails? Do you have a horizontal mortiser? Personally I’d use trad tenons and cut them on my Ultimate Tablesaw Tenon Jig, but then I would say that wouldn’t I? :)

If you can cut the end-grain mortices accurately, loose tenons will be a very good solution.

Cheers
Steve

-- http://www.workshopessentials.com - The Ultimate Tablesaw Tenon Jig and more.