Floating tenons

What is a floating tenon? How to make a loose tenon joint? Can You glue a tenon to a wall? Michael Dresdner: For the most part, yes, or rather, it is certainly strong enough.

One could no doubt run lab tests and show minor differences, but generally speaking, a well-fit floating tenon is as good as a fixed one (and better than a poorly fit fixed tenon ). Floating tenons , which are sometimes called loose tenons , differ from integral tenons (traditional) in that they incorporate a separate piece of wood for the tenon. The tenon stock is inserted into a mortise to form the ‘tenon side’ of a mortise and tenon joint. Using floating tenons you just need cut the board square to the length you want between the stiles. Making tenons is a multi-step process potentially using more than one tool.

Making floating tenons is as simple as planing wood to a certain thickness and cutting to size. So, having said all of that, what are the downsides? In a simple timed test using wood that had been relegated to my kindling pile, I was able to make 1tenons (6mm x 40mm) in about minutes.

The common way to produce the loose tenons is to mill strips of stock to the approriate thickness. Rip the strips to width, then round the edges with a round-over or small half-round bit. Crosscut the individual tenons. Loose Tenons Vary Among Tools.

Each tool creates a different type of mortise, the biscuit joiner creates the most shallow penetration. The loose tenons vary among the tools. The Freud machine bores holes for dowels. The Festool, beadLOCK and JessEm tools make wide and deep slots, and biscuit joiners cut wide but relatively shallow slots. I’ve used a number of different methods to create mortise and tenon joints, but I keep coming back to loose tenons , because they’re easy, strong and versatile.

Festool Beech Tenons are made from all-natural, solid Beech hardwood for strength and stability. The Beech Tenon serves as a true floating tenon in mortise and tenon applications such as furniture, cabinetmaking, casing and frame work. The flat, elongated design will not rotate, ensuring perfect alignment for both edge and face gluing. An innovation that has vastly simplified this construction method is the floating tenon.

It is a simple matter to rout the mortises, cut the tenon stock to length and glue everything together. The tenon has radiused edges to match the routed mortise, eliminating chisel work, and is fluted to prevent hydraulic lock. Bonus Feature: Floating Tenons and Doweling Traditional mortise and tenon joinery isn’t practical on miter joints, though often they need all the strength that tenons provide. The FMT makes it easy to mortise both sides of a miter then glue in a shop-made floating tenon for the strongest possible joint.

Measure the maximum width of the mortise, and rip a trial piece to width. I tend to cut it a skosh wide. Compare the tenon width to the mortise.

Despite its odd name, “loose-tenon” joinery is one of woodworking’s tightest methods of joining parts. It’s also one of the most versatile. Structurally, a loose-tenon joint resembles a traditional mortise-and-tenon joint, and it’s every bit as strong. Both joints gain their strength from a thick, solid-wood tenon.

Floating-Tenon Joinery – Simple jig works with a plunge router to make quick, strong joints Don’t forget to check out the full-size plans for Michael Cullen’s contemporary Arts and Crafts bed. for eletters today and get the latest techniques and how-to from Fine Woodworking, plus special offers. For beveled-end tenons , like the one shown below, make the tenons ⁄ longer than the mating part width. Begin with the mortises. Tenons can be fine-tuned easier than mortise widths, so cut your mortises first and match the tenons to them.

Once you finish creating a nice miter joint, then comes the time to think about making the joint stronger. As glue alone will not suffice, adding splines or keys in between the two banks of the miter can ensure a long lasting joint.