I'm not sure I totally understand but I'll comment anyway (never
stopped me before).

From a strength perspective, attaching across the end grain will
require some additional mechanical strength, a mortise is a great
option. There is however, some minimal possibility of seperation but
probably only if you soak the boad alot of times. There is the plus
that the "keeper" boar across the ends will likely ensure the board
would never cup, which is a very small likelyhood in 1.25 maple glueup
but can happen. Usually only with too much clamp pressure though.

Face to face edges with glue only are super strong. You've brobably
heard it said that the glue joint is stronger than the wood and I have
proven this to myself lots o' time on face to face and edge to edge IF
adequate clamp pressure was applied during glue up. It doesn't need to
be radical clamp pressure, just enough to confirm complete face to
face contact all along the joint.

I know this is not a definitive answer for either method but gives you
the points to consider for the alternate methods.


BW


reg (Gfretwell) wrote in message ...
Gluing to end grain is really useless and weak

I was going to mortise it in, following the pattern of the commercial board I
have. I do think putting the runners in the long dimension may be the easiest
path. I am only worried about loading the center of a 24" board if the grain is
going the other way.