Tips on How to Correct a Loose Fitting Tenon

[Pat Barry]

I've seen paper used in a temporary fasion in a glue joint that you want to take apart. I would not use it in a glue joint I wanted to be permanent. I would much rather glue on a new face to one or both the cheeks and then recut the tenon. Drawbore itself would be great if you plan to disassemble the joint in the future, but, if its supposed to be permanent, I would definitely glue it.

[Simon MacGowen]

He was able to separate the halves with no damage. With that in mind I would think that paper in a joint would weaken the joint. Personally, I glue the off cut back in place and re-trim the tenon.[/QUOTE]

I have tried the paper joint in woodturning but not joinery work. However, I split the paper joint with a sharp chisel on the end grain and whether the joint would have held up in an enclosed M&T pocket is something I can't assert. Those who had done that were confident that they worked well. Perhaps someone could do a quick joinery test...paper thin gap done by fitting a tight joint and shaving off some to glue a paper.

Simon

[David Myers]

Threads here are definitely more similar to wildly figured woods than straight grained stuff freshly split from the log. They go in funny directions but are interesting.

For glue only joints where I've muffed the tenon I'll sometimes use paper shims to see which cheek of the tenon needs a glued wood shim (i.e. to the faces of the mating pieces flush). The shim is then sawn/pared to the fit that I should have achieved the first time.

I've only left paper shims in place on drawbored joints, which were also glued. You'd have to be really determined, and probably insane, to get those joints apart.

Side note: sometimes I'll unintentionally undercut the cheeks either from the saw or with careless paring with a chisel. I eventually adopted the router plane paring method and results are more consistent. And with more practice I occasionally do get tenons ready to go off the saw.

[Marvin Hasenak]

I use scrap or cheap wood veneer to fix my "training" mistakes with tenons.

[Jerry Olexa]

As Marvin said above....It will not "show"

[Brian Holcombe]

I would drawbore it and move on.

[JohnM Martin]

I would drawbore it and move on.

This is exactly what I did and seems to have turned out just fine.

[Art Mann]

I have used thick paper like a business card many times to repair loose M&T joints on antique furniture. It works just fine. I have never had anyone complain that their piece developed a loose joint. Using paper in this application has almost nothing to do with using paper in a temporary end grain application.

[Mark Rainey]

A gob of epoxy when gluing up?

[Prashun Patel]

Which way is it loose? I think it’s easier and stronger to angle these edges of the mortise and wedge anyway.

[JohnM Martin]

I ended up just drawboring it (as I planned anyways) and it turned out fine. Good to learn all the ways to fix it though. Thanks for all the suggestions. Here's my progress so far (with my helper) ...

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