loose tenon/domino question

[fobos8]

Hi all

When designing a regular mortice and tenon joint the guidline is to always keep a minimum of 1/4" (6mm) of timber around the mortice.

Typically when building a table you'd have the mortices in the legs and the tenons on the rails. Does the same guidline apply to loose tenon joinery? So using the table example would you want your routed slot for the loose tenon at least 1/4" from the edge of the rail or can you go closer?

Seems to me that for loose tenons both componets in the joint have "mortices" and so should have 1/4" around the joints.

What do the experts thing??

Regards, Andrew

 

[Steve Maskery]

I'd say that was sound in all but the smallest of components.
Just how close do you want to get?
S

 

[OPJ]

I wouldn't like to go any closer than that, regardless of which tenon joint I was using. I normally work to 'thirds' of the rail's thickness, or thereabouts. Where possible, I try to go to the next size up - eg. 8mm tenons instead of 6mm for an 18mm thick rail. You could always offset the mortises slightly, if you're concerned about getting too close to a face or edge.

 

[fobos8]

cheers guys - you're right - it doesn't make sense to have less than 6mm around the loose tenon