Me ?? am I a paid up member ++ potect tenon from rot

[quintain]

Am I an (annually) paid up member of this marvellous forum??

What advice on how to treat blind mortice and tenon joint from wood rot in soft wood
In a redwood rail piece of 4x2x72" (100x50xmmx1.8m) going into a stile of 4x3" (100x 75mm) the tenon would be (about) 3" (75mm) long and 3/4" (20mm) wide with 1/2" (12mm) shoulder top and bottom.
To date over the many years I have just soaked them in a bucket of nitromors but they always seem to rot in about 10 yeras.

 

[Amplidyne]

Personally, I'd prefer to make tenons in outdoor stuff through, and wedge the end tight. Any gaps inside (and there are bound to be some) will be ideal starting points for rot IMO.

 

[Eshmiel]

Personally, I'd prefer to make tenons in outdoor stuff through, and wedge the end tight. Any gaps inside (and there are bound to be some) will be ideal starting points for rot IMO.

Indeed.

West Cumbria is full (even nowadays) of old wooden gates. Best to copy their traditional designs and materials, as they've evolved to be the best that can be managed to last as long as possible. Softwood isn't usually involved and neither is glue. Definitely not Nitromors.

Through wedged M&Ts and/or drawbored M&Ts are generally used, with various bracing designs of the whole gate to reduce the sagging inclinations and too much strain on the joints. Oak was the usual wood as it was available from coppice woods throughout Cumberland (as it was once known).

 

[Phill05]

On the farm gates we used to use Red-lead powder mixed with oil and paint all the M/T joints and crossover braces, for the gate and fence posts we used to burn the bottoms and soak in oil for a week and some had bitumen paint slapped on before dropping in the ground.

I don't know if you can still get red lead, might have been banned by now.