floating tenons for breadboard

[John Grossi]

Hi, New year brought new project for my wife. She is an artist and asked for a rolling cabinet that she can close up and look like a piece of furniture. Hopefully it works out. Question on the top. I glued up 4 maple boards appr. 7"x24". I want to do a breadboard (??) on both ends, thus covering up the end grain, and hopefully keeping the 4 boards flat. (By the way, the technique recently discussed of adding cawls to the top and bottom during glueup was very helpful!). I think I understand the mortise and tenon, where appr. 3-4 tenons are cut out of the top, the mortises cut out of the breadboards, only glue the middle tenon and dowel, and leaving the other dowels with some room for movement. My question is with floating tenons. Is it as simple as just slotting out the breadboards on the long grain side, slotting out the top, adding 3 or 4 storebought tenons, glueing the middle one, doweling and you are done? That sounds too easy. Any help would be appreciated. If this works and the cabinet is a success I promise to post pics. John

[Jamie Buxton]

Yep, you've got it.

[Joe Chritz]

I would add that I would glue all the tenons on one piece (the top) and glue the middle on the breadboard.

Your loose tenons cease to be loose when glued into the top and the difference in strength would likely take some sophisticated equipment to measure.

Joe

[Jim Becker]

What Joe said...you can start with a loose tenon arrangement if you find that easier to do, but once it's glued into the table, it's now the equivalent of a traditional tenon and you can move one from there accordingly.

[John Grossi]

Thanks so far for this info. A followup. Can I just run a .250 slotter cutter on my router table? I am thinking of running the slot the entire length, stopping short on the ends a few inches. Then I would glue the tenons into the table top. Also, if my breadboard is 3" width, what length should I make the tenon, and does the type of wood matter? The project is made from maple. Any issues I am not bringing up along with their workthroughs would be appreciated. John

[Jamie Buxton]

Traditionally, the tenons go a long way into the breadboard end -- maybe several inches. Unlike the usual tenons, these tenons are not glued, so there's little to prevent the breadboard from flopping around. Making them long helps with this issue. You can use the slotting cutter on the table side, where you plan to glue the loose tenons, but it probably won't cut deep enough to work well on the breadboard end.

One more thought... You probably understand this, but the grain direction of the tenons should be the same as the table top, not the breadboard end.