[ryan50hrl]

So...I always dry fit everything......not a lot of room in mortise and tennon construction for error if you want perfect joints....

But the one time I measure and it looks all right....I glue and assemble and its 1/16th of a gap......now the gaps underneath the rail so you can't see it....but I'm always going to know its there.....so I quickly rip it apart.....chisel off some of the bottom of the tennon and glue a sliver on the top.....get it reassembled and the gaps down to 1/32......still pretty disappointing in myself.....but I guess its gunna have to work...

 

[Chris Curl]

Damn newbie

 

[MNsawyergp]

..It happens. I know how you feel.

 

[ryan50hrl]

Damn newbie

I wish that were the problem.....:laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[Chris Curl]

:icon_cheesygrin: :laughing:

 

[johnnie52]

Measure once cut twice and it always comes up short. :laughing:

 

[lilman]

I cut a mortise in the wrong spot, patched, put it in the wrong spot again. I gave up for the day.

 

[Grinder71480]

I knew a man that cut the same board off three times and still complained about it not being long enough to fit

 

[Fred Hargis]

I cut a mortise in the wrong spot, patched, put it in the wrong spot again. I gave up for the day.

:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing: BTDT :yes::furious:

 

[cabinetman]

If you were using see through wood, getting an eyeball of the fit would be easy. A dry fit makes sense. Too tight of a fit, can present it's own problems. This also applies to dowels. Air has to have a way to displace, and so does the glue. Too tight a fit can restrict the fit.

.

 

[BernieL]

We're all our worst critics. But it good when we can laugh a bit. Thanks for the post because this morning I will re-enter my shop and live with my ooops... That's why I invested in a good set of melt sticks, just don't tell anyone about them because I don't really want to kill :icon_smile:

 

[TylerJones]

It's happened to us all. One not is that on a shouldered tenon the bottom or end grain part of the tenon itself serves no function, mechanical or otherwise. I always make tenons at least 1/16 shorter than the depth of the mortise. This eliminates the problem you faced, and also prevents a split due to hydraulic force if you've made the tenon a little too tight.

 

[ryan50hrl]

No...it was the spindles in a set of legs like these. The culprit was the spindles shoulders were all cut a hair short of where they needed to be. The fix was to quickly move the top rail down, as it doesn't have any effect on any other part.

 

[wood shavings]

Free floating spindles need room for movement.

Jerry

 

[ryan50hrl]

They shouldn't need 1/16th of an inch.....and technically they should expand or contract at the same rate as the legs....thus negating the need for expansion room...

My other pieces i've built that way are solid tight joints and have never had a problem....

 

[Chris Curl]

10 years from now, nobody will care (or even know) that it was a tiny bit off ... all they will think about is how nice it is and how fortunate they are to have it.

 

[ryan50hrl]

I know....and if it were mine I wouldn't have been so ticked about it.

 

[TylerJones]

Wood Shavings, this piece doesn't have any significant opposing wood movement issues. Wood barely expands along the grain at all, not enough for us to account for it in building. It's across the grain that it moves.

 

[wood shavings]

True and I was also feeling his pain. A few years back I made a Morris Chair and you have to get on your hands and knees to see any of the floating tenon.

Jerry

 

[SteveEl]

"You know you're an experienced woodworker when you can hide your mistakes"

(quote one of you guys once attributed to your teacher)