I'm refinishing a very old dresser that has water damage and probably
1/8" of paint layers from repainting over the years. The oak is tongue
and groove and I have a few pieces that are warped beyond repair from
the water damage. I'm now forced with recreating this piece and don't
know how to make a tongue and groove joinery. The wood is probably 1/4
inch thick by the way if that matters and the tonge and groove is very
thin. Help!!

Using a 1/8" kerf blade and a sacrificial vertical fence attached to your
TS, set the fence so the blade is buried in the sacrificial fence by 1/16".
Set the height of the blade to about 1/8". This will remove 1/16" wide by
1/8" deep rabbet from one side. Flip the board and take another pass to
form the 1/8" wide by 1/8" deep tongue.

Now make a groove in the mating board edge by centering the piece over the
blade. That means the fence will be positioned 1/16" away from the blade
now. Make a pass at a depth of 1/8" plus an RCH for glue.

I have to ask why you want to replicate a T&G in a 1/4" thick (whatever)? Is
this a panel on the side or what?

I'm assuming the T&G was used to align two pieces together only and the T&G
is hidden. If their is a decorative bevel to the T&G, then a bench plane,
sanding block or another pass at the table saw with the blade beveled will
do.

If not, forget the T&G and just glue as you would for making any panel and
use some culls to keep it flat while the glue dries. Today's glues are much
stronger than the old hide glues. But if you want to remain true to the
construction of the period, make the T&G and use some Franklin's hide glue
or mix your own.

You could also make T&G with a router mounted in a router table.

Bob S.


"Basspro*" wrote in message
om...
I'm refinishing a very old dresser that has water damage and probably
1/8" of paint layers from repainting over the years. The oak is tongue
and groove and I have a few pieces that are warped beyond repair from
the water damage. I'm now forced with recreating this piece and don't
know how to make a tongue and groove joinery. The wood is probably 1/4
inch thick by the way if that matters and the tonge and groove is very
thin. Help!!

(Basspro*) wrote in news:513fbbb8.0401210944.3ad3ffe5
@posting.google.com:

I'm now forced with recreating this piece and don't
know how to make a tongue and groove joinery. The wood is probably 1/4
inch thick by the way if that matters and the tonge and groove is very
thin. Help!!

Hum - the traditional way to do that would be to use a match plane.
There are router bits for T & G, but I don't know that any of them
would handle 1/4" stock.

If I were trying to do this, I think I'd use the table saw to cut
a 1/8" kerf (or 3/32" if you have a narrow kerf blade) to serve as
the groove, and a rabbet plane to cut the tongue.

If you need to match the existing T & G, and that has a groove
narrower than your saw's kerf, I'm not sure what to do. If it's
wider, of course you can take two passes to make a wider kerf
(incidently, this calls for a zero clearance insert and a feather
board, & I'd use a sacrificial fence, just for safety).

If the existing T & G has a bead or other ornament alongside the
tongue, a scratchstock or a hand-beader will serve to duplicate it.

John

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:22:32 +0000 (UTC), John McCoy
wrote:

(Basspro*) wrote in news:513fbbb8.0401210944.3ad3ffe5
:

I'm now forced with recreating this piece and don't
know how to make a tongue and groove joinery. The wood is probably 1/4
inch thick by the way if that matters and the tonge and groove is very
thin. Help!!

Hum - the traditional way to do that would be to use a match plane.
There are router bits for T & G, but I don't know that any of them
would handle 1/4" stock.

If I were trying to do this, I think I'd use the table saw to cut
a 1/8" kerf (or 3/32" if you have a narrow kerf blade) to serve as
the groove, and a rabbet plane to cut the tongue.

If you need to match the existing T & G, and that has a groove
narrower than your saw's kerf, I'm not sure what to do. If it's
wider, of course you can take two passes to make a wider kerf
(incidently, this calls for a zero clearance insert and a feather
board, & I'd use a sacrificial fence, just for safety).

If the existing T & G has a bead or other ornament alongside the
tongue, a scratchstock or a hand-beader will serve to duplicate it.

John



I made a run of thin T&G recently. I ended up with a thickness of
about 3/8". I used stacked 2 wing slot cutters on the router to cut
both the tongue and groove. it worked fine.
Bridger