I am making a table that has some decorative pieces put in with tenons; the
consist of the decorative pieces instead of being solid. The tenons are not
visable, nor are the pieces structural. It would be an aweful lot easier to
use dowels, and probably more consistent as well. Am I overlooking
something here?

Dowels sound good to me, especially if the piece isn't structural. If
you're using a doweling jig, I'd recommend using it in the same
orientation with each piece, because the hole might not be exactly
centered. Did that make sense? Sorry - hard to describe. Do a trial
run on scrap and you'll be fine.
Andy

I use dowels a lot on panel frames to absorb the wood movement. Loose
tenon construction is nothing but an odd shaped dowel and David Marks
uses it extensively for fine furniture work on DIY's Woodworks. Dowels
are great with the proper application. A couple of sets of $3.00 dowel
pins/ locators are very handy ffor marking locations.
Bugs

On 16 Jan 2006 06:25:37 -0800, "Bugs" wrote:

I use dowels a lot on panel frames to absorb the wood movement. Loose
tenon construction is nothing but an odd shaped dowel and David Marks
uses it extensively for fine furniture work on DIY's Woodworks. Dowels
are great with the proper application. A couple of sets of $3.00 dowel
pins/ locators are very handy ffor marking locations.
Bugs

David Marks has a serious advantage over us hobby guys - he's got a
multirouter. I'd be more inclined to go the loose tenon route if I
had one of those.

A plunge router and a little fixturing will do just as well. With a bit more
work, a shop made version of the Multi Router would not be to difficult.

"George Max" wrote in message
...
On 16 Jan 2006 06:25:37 -0800, "Bugs" wrote:
David Marks has a serious advantage over us hobby guys - he's got a
multirouter. I'd be more inclined to go the loose tenon route if I
had one of those.