# Why make 2 shorter tenons vs on longer one?



## jimmyjj (Nov 20, 2011)

I understand the math rules, but am unsure why it would be stronger to have two 2.5 long mortise/tenons vs one 5 inch set. I'm joining 3/4 stretchers into 1.75" entry table legs.


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## Ripthorn (Mar 24, 2010)

There are a number of reasons: slightly more surface area, increased torsional resistance, reduced face area for a single tenon so that there is less total expansion contraction per tenon, etc. You are more than welcome to do it a different way, but over the last few hundred years, many people with many decades of experience have kind of settled on that approach.


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## ArtMann (Mar 1, 2016)

You are saying "long" but do you actually mean "wide"? Tenons are subject to the same dimensional instability with changes in humidity as any other piece of wood. A 5 inch wide tenon might expand and contract enough to break the glue bond.


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