First time using loose tenons

[Mick Simon]

Guess I should have mentioned that for loose tenons I make the "tenon side" mortise fit snuggly and the mortise side with a little wiggle room. I usually use a Domino and set the mortise width to the narrow (actual) width of the domino tenon. For the mortise side, I place the hairline cursor just on the outside of my mark, plunge, then place it on the other side of the mark and plunge. This still gives me a little wiggle room, but not a sloppy joint. I don't like setting the width of the mortise to the middle or wide settings except for shelves, etc.

[Mike Cutler]

One more tip for the loose tenons, in addition to the great tips already mentioned, is to cut a slight groove, the length of the tenon, on both sides. This allows the glue to squeeze out from the bottom of the joint ,and not hydraulically try to force the loose tenon back out as the joint is compressed.
Credit to Mark Singer for this subtle tip.

[Justin Rapp]

One more tip for the loose tenons, in addition to the great tips already mentioned, is to cut a slight groove, the length of the tenon, on both sides. This allows the glue to squeeze out from the bottom of the joint ,and not hydraulically try to force the loose tenon back out as the joint is compressed.
Credit to Mark Singer for this subtle tip.

I did this today. Made a slight grove on each side 2/3 lengthwise. I did 2/3 so that the two groves are not back to back making a single part of the tenon too thin.

[Mike Cutler]

I did this today. Made a slight grove on each side 2/3 lengthwise. I did 2/3 so that the two groves are not back to back making a single part of the tenon too thin.

Justin

I should have been more descriptive.
What Mark did was to cut narrow grooves on both sides of the tenon, but on opposing sides. For example, as viewed from above, One groove would be left top, about a 1/16th deep, the other would be the right bottom, about 1/16th deep. This way glue could squeeze from both sides of the tenon, and both "shoulders".

[Jim Becker]

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Credit to Mark Singer for this subtle tip.

I really miss him and his wonderful insights. I learned a lot from him here and when I visited his beautiful shop years ago. RIP

[lowell holmes]

One of these makes it easy,

https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=m...biscuit+joiner

[Justin Rapp]

Justin

I should have been more descriptive.
What Mark did was to cut narrow grooves on both sides of the tenon, but on opposing sides. For example, as viewed from above, One groove would be left top, about a 1/16th deep, the other would be the right bottom, about 1/16th deep. This way glue could squeeze from both sides of the tenon, and both "shoulders".

This is exactly what i did.

[Justin Rapp]

One of these makes it easy,

https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=m...biscuit+joiner

I have a biscuit joiner, however 2 things, biscuits are no where near as strong, and the face frame is 1 1/2 inch - so to narrow for a biscuit jointer.

[Warren Lake]

table saw and you can make a pro door
cope and stick cutters and you can make a lower quality door
lamello, why not find a new hobby, the whole point of a hobby is to learn stuff and do it well instead of what gizmo can I get so I never have to do it.

[Jim Dwight]

I started another dresser for my house today and decided to use my domino more than I really need to. The plans call for dados to locate the dividers, for instance, and I decided to use a couple 6mm dominos instead. I made them all the way through the sides so they will be decorative. I will make the dividers as frames to save material and weight and will join them with 6mm dominos too. I might change my mind and use my normal half blind dovetails for the drawers but I am thinking of trying 5mm dominos there. I made up more 6mm domino stock after completeing the glueup and milling out of the sides. I think I'll save the 5 frames for tomorrow.

To make stock for dominos, I take a piece of scrap that is big enough, rip it slightly thicker than needed, plane it to final thickness, rip it to final width, and then round the edges on the router table. I made enough for about 150 dominos in a few minutes today. Machine setup takes the most time so it's best to make a reasonable amount while you have the setup completed. I messed up and made the first two mortises with the wide setting of my XL. So I decided to just make the top and bottom mortises bigger - emphasize it rather than try and find a way to hide it. So then I needed wider tenons but I had a piece almost the right size so it worked out well. I would have had to do something different if I was stuck with using pre made tenons. I'll cut the longer pieces of prepared tenon stock later on the table saw using a sled. I've used my big one previously but I'm thinking of just making a little one for this and putting lines on it for the typical lengths.

[Mike Cutler]

I really miss him and his wonderful insights. I learned a lot from him here and when I visited his beautiful shop years ago. RIP

I agree. We were very fortunate to have him on the forum.
Tremendously talented individual, and just a really nice person.