I watched Norm build a door from mahogany using loose tenons. He used his mortiser to drill the mortises in both rails and stiles, and then used a planer on a long board to get the loose tenon material to the proper thickness. A router was used to round over the edges of the properly thickened board. The loose tenons were then cut to proper length from this board.
Let's give the tenon's 3 dimensional terms: depth refers to how far the tenon goes into the mortise, thickness refers to the narrowest dimension of the tenon, and width refers to the last tenon dimension, the wider of the two dimensions visible looking at the end of the tenon.
I noted that he specifically said not to worry about the width of the loose tenons, as leaving them a bit loose here would allow some adjustment during the door glue-up. The depth of the tenons was also seemingly not critical, so long as they didn't protrude so far as to prevent a tight joint. The critical dimension was the thickness, which should be a snug fit in the mortise, and the place where the gluing would provide the strength.
Do you agree? Or should the tenon fit snugly in a mortise on all four sides? Is an entry door, with its multiple rails and stiles, an exception?
Let's give the tenon's 3 dimensional terms: depth refers to how far the tenon goes into the mortise, thickness refers to the narrowest dimension of the tenon, and width refers to the last tenon dimension, the wider of the two dimensions visible looking at the end of the tenon.
I noted that he specifically said not to worry about the width of the loose tenons, as leaving them a bit loose here would allow some adjustment during the door glue-up. The depth of the tenons was also seemingly not critical, so long as they didn't protrude so far as to prevent a tight joint. The critical dimension was the thickness, which should be a snug fit in the mortise, and the place where the gluing would provide the strength.
Do you agree? Or should the tenon fit snugly in a mortise on all four sides? Is an entry door, with its multiple rails and stiles, an exception?
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