"Sam the Cat" wrote in message
...
I'm making some raised panel doors this weekend. The style I am making is
simple groove in rail and stile -- no ogee or anything. In the past I
have
made the frame of the raised panel using mortise and tennon construction
using my Leigh FMT and then groove the interior of the frame with a
centered
1/4" bit. I was looking at some raised panel bit sets to see the how they
attached the rail to the stile and it would appear that there is no
"large"
tennon or tennon like structure -- although the joint also has a lot of
glue
area and good part of it is long to long grain. If I carry this idea to
my
design I would mill a 1/4" x 1/4" groove down the stile and then form a
1/4"
stub tennon on the rail. Obviously a 1" deep full tennon would be a
stronger joint -- just wondering if anyone has any experience making door
with the 1/4" tennon and had luck with them holding up over time.


As a matter of fact, I've done exactly that. Stopped the router groove
short so that it did not show in the end grain and just used a tennon to fit
the mortise. Held up fine. It's not so different from the idea behind a
biscuit - look how little biscuit really sticks into the mating piece.

--

-Mike-