Loose mortice and tenon joint on cabinet door

[dave261266]

Hi Guys,

Just a request for a best practice fix.

I am making some cabinet doors for my utility room and one of the tenons is slightly too small for the mortise. Normally I wouldn't worry and I would pack the mortice out but the design of the door shows me the top of the tenon. The gap won't be huge (maybe 1-2 mm) but as it's visible I want to make sure that it looks neat. I would guess that it's fairly straight forward and I have a couple of ideas on how to resolve it but I thought I would ask and get experts views.

Many thanks

Dave

 

[George_N]

Not an expert by any means, but could you cut and glue a veneer of the same wood to the tenon cheek?

 

[RogerM]

Dave - I would look for an offcut from the same piece from which you cut that piece of the frame so that the grain and colour matches as near as possible. I'd cut the packing piece slightly oversize, glue it to the tenon, and then when dry trim it to size with either a shoulder plane ( I don't have one!), or recut it on the t/s with a tenoning jig - having first cut a tenon on a piece of scrap to ensure it was properly set up, or shave it to size with a broad chisel. Actually I'd probably cut it very slightly full on the t/s and then trim with a chisel. Just my two penn'orth! Others here will have a different view

 

[Anonymous]

Is it the edge's or the side's of the tennon chek's that are slack?
If its the edges (ie the narrow parts) I would glue up as normal. Then fit a matching wedge to make up the slack (that would happen anyway if you are using wedged through tennons, or are you using pegg'd ones?) You might have to clean up the hole a little to get a nice square opening instead of slanted, and carefully pick the wood growth rings for the wedge so it will fit into the grain of the rest of the tennon nicely. If its the tennon face's that are slack I'd do the same as George and pack out with matching venneer.

Cheers Mr S

 

[Wanlock Dod]

My solution to this would be PU glue, and to hold things in place whilst it set. Obviously this won't do too much for improving the looks of the piece though.

Cheers,

Dod

 

[A_n_g_e_l_a]

People have been known to correct small inexactitudes in M&Ts by planishing the proud tenon with a ball pein hammer. 2mm might be stretching things a bit too far though.

 

[JFC]

I've been thinking about this as i've seen a post about a perfect joint on another forum . If the joint is perfect where does the glue go ? My thinking is a joint with no glue is weak , making a perfect joint weak .

 

[Nick W]

... PU glue ...

If you're using the foamed glue to fill gaps don't expect any strength from it, 'cos it don't not have none. :wink:

 

[wrightclan]

I've been thinking about this as i've seen a post about a perfect joint on another forum . If the joint is perfect where does the glue go ? My thinking is a joint with no glue is weak , making a perfect joint weak .

A thin continuous glue line is strongest. A joint should fit snugly, but go together quite easily. (No more force than a couple light taps with a mallet, or mlight to moderate clamping pressure.)

Brad

 

[dave261266]

The gutting thing is that I was about to buy a tennoning Jig so that I could avoid using the bandsaw to cut the cheeks. Only trouble is my tablesaw is a kity 619 which seems to have a non standard mitre slot so the tennoning jig that I was looking at would not have fit So depressingly I used the bandsaw method which in most cases was fine but occasionlly seemed to wander - That might be due to the fact that the blade wasn't tightened enough which caused the blade to waver slightly.

If anyone knows a tenonning jig that will fit the 619 please let me know.

 

[Johnboy]

You could fit a new bar to a tenoning jig to fit the slot in your 619 or make your own jig like this shown on a Kity 619.

John

 

[JFC]

A thin continuous glue line is strongest

How thin would you say ?

 

[wrightclan]

A thin continuous glue line is strongest

How thin would you say ?

Really, just enough for their to be a continuous "film" of glue where the two parts join. If the joint is too tight, you will squeeze out portions of the contact surface. If it's too loose, leverage can break the glue line. I was always taught to go by the feel of the joint, more than anything, and not too clamp too tightly (i.e. only enough pressure to bring the joint "home," and keep it there while the whole assembly dries.)

Brad