Tenon sizing question, not rabbet?

[Sean Troy]

Hi all, how does one determine the length and thickness of a Tenon? I'm using 3/4 walnut to make an apron for a coffee table. I assume I should make the tenon before mortise being new to this type of joint. Thanks for any help, Sean

[Sean Troy]

Sorry, I used the wrong terms in the original post.

[Chris Kennedy]

In general, my tenons are 1/3 of the width of the stock, and depth about 2/3 of the receiving stock. So, on 3/4 stock, I would make it 1/4 inch wide and 2/3 the depth of the leg receiving the apron.

Cheers,

Chris

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Sean.......I make the mortise first.......then size the tenon to fit the mortise.

As stated..the tenon tends to be 1/3 of the receiving material thickness and about 2/3 the depth or width of the receiving material.

[Sean Troy]

Thank you for the info. Sean

[Terry Beadle]

Jim Kingshott says to give the benefit to the chisel. Meaning that you want even thickness of the sides of the mortice and the tenon but when you select the chisel to get the center 1/3rd, the closest chisel width maybe a bit wider rather than a bit narrower.

[Mike Cutler]

I do the Mortises first. It's a lot easier to resize a tenon than a mortise.

Tenon dimension " Rules of thumb" and meant to be modified.

A Tenon is 3-3-5

It is 1/3 the thickness of the tenon stock.

It's length 2/3 the thickness of the mortised member.

The tenon width is 5 times the tenon hickness.

As I said though, these are rules of thumb for a blind M&T joint. Individual projects may require different sizing. It's just a place to start.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Sean.......I make the mortise first.......then size the tenon to fit the mortise.

Ken has it precisely correct - you can [should] make the mortise first, then cut the tenon and "sneak up" on the final fit......you can always cut the tenon slighly thick and then use any of a variety of tools to shave them down a skosh to fit. You cannot widen a mortise nearly as easily as you can narrow a tenon.

[Sean Troy]

I'm glad I asked before I got started. probably save me a lot of re-cuts. thanks, Sean

[glenn bradley]

+1 mortise first, shoulder-plane tenon to fit. Also +1 on 1/3 width and 2/3 depth.