On 19 Oct 2005 19:22:05 -0700, with neither quill nor qualm,
"nireedmot" quickly quoth:

Hi there-

I hand-sawed and -chopped a double tenon with haunches
on a 17" wide glue-up for a bed footboard. It goes in
most of the way into the mortised leg and then stops.
Is there a trick for how to tell what the problem is?
How can you tell exactly where along the 17" of joint
the problem is when nothing's visible?

Ah, but it IS visible if you know what to look for. As you assemble a
joint, the wood will burnish at any heavy contact point. Look for
shiny spots on the tenon and in the mortise. Pare or sand those down
and try again. Repeat until you have a snug joint which fully comes
together.

You would also be better served by several tenons rather than a single
long one. The footboard will probably crack on you as the wood in the
panel dries. If I were doing this and had already cut a long tenon,
I'd probably glue it only in the center of the mortise, about 2", then
rely on the rails to provide the majority of the strength.

G'luck!


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