Mortise or groove?

[Greg Urwiller]

I'm building an A&C sofa table. The ends will have 3 vertical 1/2" slats going into 3/4" stretchers. What would you recommend? Groove the stretchers and fill in spacers between the slats? Or mortise the stretchers and make small tenon on the slats? I've got either a 1/4" or 5/16" mortise set. The groove would be quicker and probably easier and really shouldn't be any different structurally should it? Since this is an A&C style I think everything would normally be mortise/tenon but with only 1/2" slats I thought the groove would be better. If I go with the groove/filler, should I glue in the slats? Thanks. Greg

[Michael Kellough]

You could also just use biscuits or Dominos or even small dowels.

[Peter Quinn]

Mortise would be my preference, hard to control the glue squeeze from all those in fill pieces if using a groove, and even harder to sand flush without scratching. A friend made a crib similar, a&c style, lots of slats, prefinished all the parts pre glue up to save time later, one final coat on major show surfaces. If doing grooves you could wax a scrap slat, do the infil, pull the slats as you work your way down, clean it up, in effect creating mortises, sounds like more work to me. Than mortising and you run the risk of visible glue lines.

[Prashun Patel]

Groove and spacers. It will save you a lot of time and is easier to get more precise. The squeeze out was not an issue for me. Also, you dont need too much glue.

[Mike Cutler]

I agree with Peter. I too would just mortise them into place. I see where you're coming from though since you don't have a 1/2" mortise set.
If you do decide to use the groove method I personally would put glue on the slats. I can't really determine from your description if these slats are used for support, or cosmetic. Being that you're calling them"slats", I'm assuming cosmetic, so I would just put glue on them to stop them rattling around 10 years from now. If they're structural components, I would definitely glue them.

[Buck Williams]

Here's another solution , which I have used, easier to take a glance at the Woodcraft plan, which is available as a .PDF on the web, than to try to explain it.

http://www.woodsmithshop.com/download/401/401-craftsmancoffeetable.pdf

[Jim Rimmer]

I would make individual mortises. I think it just looks better. That's what I did on two end tables I made. Eight spindles per side, two mortises per spindle, 2 tables = 64 mortises but they look great.

293005

[John TenEyck]

I'm with Prashun, groove and spacers. Make the spacers a little higher than the rails to give yourself an additional shadow line; it really looks nice. A little glue in the bottom of the grove is all you need to hold the spacers - no squeeze out worries.

John

[paul cottingham]

I did a A&C coffee table and did the spindles with the groove and spacer method. But if I did it again, I would do individual mortises. I just think it would look better.

[Von Bickley]

I think either one will work fine. When I built some similar pieces a while back, I did the mortise and tenons, but I think either procedure will be O.K.

Go with the one that you feel more comfortable with doing.......

[Jim Matthews]

John Bullard made a bedframe in the manner described, using precisely fit spacers.

It allowed for quick assembly. I would caution anyone making something
with lots of "slats" to allow sufficient space at the bottom for inevitable dusting.

Were I to do this, I would modify the approach slightly.
Each slat could receive a dowel.

Drilling a series of holes for the dowels would be easier than a series of mortises.

If your intent is to be more thorough and true to the original approach, cutting mortises is appropriate.
It's my belief that the makers of that day would adopt modern methods to their work.

[John TenEyck]

It's my belief that the makers of that day would adopt modern methods to their work.

^ I think that's 110% correct. If pocket screws had been invented 100 years ago you would be seeing them on today's antiques. I'm not saying we should cheapen our construction methods, but adhering to the "old ways" only makes sense when it really does make sense. There's nothing wrong with using individual mortises for this application, but there's no structural reason to do so either.

John

[Shawn Pixley]

I would do mortises for any piece where the joinery would show as prominately as this. The glue-up would be more difficult though as there is a lot of friction with that many M&T. This could be a big pain DAMHIKT. I personally don't like the dowels in this application as it would be easy for the slats to spin and lose alignment.

[Prashun Patel]

Are you planning to color this? If you are doing a dark color, you won't notice the seam between the rails and the spacers; Also, I think the benefit of groove over mortise increases as the number of slats increases and/or the space between the slats decreases.

[Cary Falk]

I would do a quarter inch mortise and then make a quarter inch tendon on the slats. I find that gives the cleanest look.

[glenn bradley]

Groove and spacers. It will save you a lot of time and is easier to get more precise. The squeeze out was not an issue for me. Also, you dont need too much glue.

Prashun's and my minds are one ;-) Do the groove and go light on the glue for the fillers.

[Greg Urwiller]

The 1/4" M/T is what I had in mind originally. But I really don't like my mortise machine and was considering the groove/filler because of this. I saw this method in Wood Magazine and thought I might try it. And, I WILL have a dark finish so it shouldn't show as much either. Anyway, I got interrupted and haven't done anything yet so we'll see about doing it this weekend. Thanks for all the replies! Greg

[Rod Sheridan]

A&C furniture was a revolt against the overly ornate, mass produced furniture of the time.

The emphasis was on craftsmanship, solid proven construction methods.

Dante has a special location for people who build A&C furniture that uses filler strips, pocket screws etc.

You're going to own this piece of furniture for your lifetime, then several more people will do the same. You're going to sign this piece, and every time you look at it and you've used a groove and filler strip in it, you'll regret it.

Now, part of the above post was a bit tongue in cheek, however you're making this as a hobbiest, craft is more important than time savings in my opinion.

regards, Rod.

P.S. This is the perfect opportunity for the "Dear, I really need a Kapex mitre saw to build that bird house for you" moment. Think mortiser you'll be happy with......LOL