Cutting tenons for breadboard edge
 

Hi all,

I'm building my first tabletop with breadboard ends and have a bit of
a quandry. The tabletop is 40" wide by 60" long, and I'd like to put
3" breadboard ends on it.

From reviewing the rec.woodworking archives, most people say that the
tongue should be be between 1-2 inches long. This makes intuitive
sense, and would be aesthetically sound.

My dilemma is this: I can't find tongue-and-groove router bits that
will cut a tenon an inch deep. Best I could find was just over 1/2".
Some folks have suggested using a dado blade on the table saw to cut
the tenon, but that's unworkable for me (would be very hard to get a
precise cut--the top is just too unwieldy). The only remaining
suggestion I've seen is a straight bit with an edge guide. That would
require making two cuts, one on the top, and one on the bottom.
Ideally, those cuts would be perfectly aligned with each other. Any
error (out of parallel or one being deeper than the other) would be
very apparent. It seems remarkably difficult to get this right. Does
anyone have suggestions on how I can get this right?

Thanks,
George

I would make a rectangular "box" (with no top and bottom) with inside
dimensions that match your table top, i.e. 40" by 3/4". Slip it over your
tabletop, clamp it down (add some ears for clamping) and use that to guide
for your router. One setup will allow you to route both faces of your
tenon, and it should come out perfect.

Jay Knepper

"George Nachman" wrote in message
om...
Hi all,

I'm building my first tabletop with breadboard ends and have a bit of
a quandry. The tabletop is 40" wide by 60" long, and I'd like to put
3" breadboard ends on it.

From reviewing the rec.woodworking archives, most people say that the
tongue should be be between 1-2 inches long. This makes intuitive
sense, and would be aesthetically sound.

My dilemma is this: I can't find tongue-and-groove router bits that
will cut a tenon an inch deep. Best I could find was just over 1/2".
Some folks have suggested using a dado blade on the table saw to cut
the tenon, but that's unworkable for me (would be very hard to get a
precise cut--the top is just too unwieldy). The only remaining
suggestion I've seen is a straight bit with an edge guide. That would
require making two cuts, one on the top, and one on the bottom.
Ideally, those cuts would be perfectly aligned with each other. Any
error (out of parallel or one being deeper than the other) would be
very apparent. It seems remarkably difficult to get this right. Does
anyone have suggestions on how I can get this right?

Thanks,
George

Jay Knepper wrote:

I would make a rectangular "box" (with no top and bottom) with inside
dimensions that match your table top, i.e. 40" by 3/4". Slip it over your
tabletop, clamp it down (add some ears for clamping) and use that to guide
for your router. One setup will allow you to route both faces of your
tenon, and it should come out perfect.

Jay Knepper
And run the face of the box across your jointer to get the guide edges
perfectly parallel.

TWS

On 2 Sep 2004 16:52:01 -0700, (George Nachman)
wrote:

My dilemma is this: I can't find tongue-and-groove router bits that
will cut a tenon an inch deep.

Cut it as a dado each side, so as to define the important edge
carefully, then hog the remaining waste off however you like. You can
use the same router setup, but a plane is nearly as quick.

If you're cutting tenons with a router, leave the workpiece over
length and then just cut them as a wide dado, multi-pass if needed.
Leave the waste end piece full height, so as to support the router
base and stop it tipping.

--
Smert' spamionam

If you use a straight bit with a fence attached to the router and riding
the edge (tongue) you won't have the same reproducibility problems as
with a fence attached to the work.

Your description of router bit, from the top, then from the bottom is
exactly the way I did it last time. Worked fine. I just indexed off a
straight edge for the first inch or so and then used the router edge
guide for the last pass. Don't mess with the edge guide between the top
and bottom sides, I think you'll be all right.

bob g.

Jay Knepper wrote:
I would make a rectangular "box" (with no top and bottom) with inside
dimensions that match your table top, i.e. 40" by 3/4". Slip it over your
tabletop, clamp it down (add some ears for clamping) and use that to guide
for your router. One setup will allow you to route both faces of your
tenon, and it should come out perfect.

Jay Knepper

"George Nachman" wrote in message
om...

Hi all,

I'm building my first tabletop with breadboard ends and have a bit of
a quandry. The tabletop is 40" wide by 60" long, and I'd like to put
3" breadboard ends on it.

From reviewing the rec.woodworking archives, most people say that the
tongue should be be between 1-2 inches long. This makes intuitive
sense, and would be aesthetically sound.

My dilemma is this: I can't find tongue-and-groove router bits that
will cut a tenon an inch deep. Best I could find was just over 1/2".
Some folks have suggested using a dado blade on the table saw to cut
the tenon, but that's unworkable for me (would be very hard to get a
precise cut--the top is just too unwieldy). The only remaining
suggestion I've seen is a straight bit with an edge guide. That would
require making two cuts, one on the top, and one on the bottom.
Ideally, those cuts would be perfectly aligned with each other. Any
error (out of parallel or one being deeper than the other) would be
very apparent. It seems remarkably difficult to get this right. Does
anyone have suggestions on how I can get this right?

Thanks,
George