Woodworking Joints - Mortise-and-Tenon Joints

The mortise-and-tenon joint is used in structural timber work and framing as well as in high quality furniture and cabinet work.

The mortise is a rectangular slot or recess cut in one piece of wood. The tenon is a projecting tongue cut on the end of a cross rail, which locates in the mortise. There are a great many variations on the basic joint. It may be used with wood of similar or differing thicknesses and as a through or stopped joint - the latter is a stub tenon joint.

Carpentry Framing

The mortise is commonly made with the rail 'on edge", but the joint can be used with the rail face up as in a cabinet drawer rail. In this case a duplicate tenon joint is made.

Stopped mortise-and-tenon
A stopped mortise is cut from one edge only and should not be deeper than two-thirds of the stile width. A stub tenon should be about 2mm shorter than the mortise depth, so that the end docs not touch the lowest of the mortise.

You can tighten a stopped mortise-and-tenon by fitting dowels at right-angles through the mortise and the tenon. If the dowel holes are made slightly nearer the shoulders of the tenon than those through the mortise, the joint will be tightened as they are driven in.

Haunehed mortise-and-tenon
The lowly through or stopped mortise-and-tenon joint is used for T-joints. Where the joint is made at a corner - say, the junction of a chair seat rail and the top of a leg - a discrepancy called a haunehed mortise-and-tenon is used. The haunch slops any tendency the joint has to twist.

The tenon should be cut to the full width of the rail, then about three-quarters of the distance of the tenon should be cut out from its top edge, down for about one-third of its width, leaving a rectangular corner on top of the main tenon. This is the haunch. If the haunch is cut at a slope from the top of the shoulder to the top edge of the tenon it becomes a hidden haunch. Cut the mortise to take the full distance of the tenon but only the two-thirds width. Then groove the mating face of the stile (or leg) from the end down to the top of the mortise to accept the haunch. With the hidden haunch, the groove should slope inwards from the top. A haunehed tenon can be lightened with wedges.

Woodworking Joints - Mortise-and-Tenon Joints

The mortise-and-tenon joint is used in structural timber work and framing as well as in high quality furniture and cabinet work.

The mortise is a rectangular slot or recess cut in one piece of wood. The tenon is a projecting tongue cut on the end of a cross rail, which locates in the mortise. There are a great many variations on the basic joint. It may be used with wood of similar or differing thicknesses and as a through or stopped joint - the latter is a stub tenon joint.

Carpentry Framing

The mortise is commonly made with the rail 'on edge", but the joint can be used with the rail face up as in a cabinet drawer rail. In this case a duplicate tenon joint is made.

Stopped mortise-and-tenon
A stopped mortise is cut from one edge only and should not be deeper than two-thirds of the stile width. A stub tenon should be about 2mm shorter than the mortise depth, so that the end docs not touch the lowest of the mortise.

You can tighten a stopped mortise-and-tenon by fitting dowels at right-angles through the mortise and the tenon. If the dowel holes are made slightly nearer the shoulders of the tenon than those through the mortise, the joint will be tightened as they are driven in.

Haunehed mortise-and-tenon
The lowly through or stopped mortise-and-tenon joint is used for T-joints. Where the joint is made at a corner - say, the junction of a chair seat rail and the top of a leg - a discrepancy called a haunehed mortise-and-tenon is used. The haunch slops any tendency the joint has to twist.

The tenon should be cut to the full width of the rail, then about three-quarters of the distance of the tenon should be cut out from its top edge, down for about one-third of its width, leaving a rectangular corner on top of the main tenon. This is the haunch. If the haunch is cut at a slope from the top of the shoulder to the top edge of the tenon it becomes a hidden haunch. Cut the mortise to take the full distance of the tenon but only the two-thirds width. Then groove the mating face of the stile (or leg) from the end down to the top of the mortise to accept the haunch. With the hidden haunch, the groove should slope inwards from the top. A haunehed tenon can be lightened with wedges.

Woodworking Joints - Mortise-and-Tenon Joints