Loose Tenon Panel Doors

Solid panel full mortise and tenon joints make this the best method for constructing fine furniture.

Loose tenon panel doors.

The tenons alone are too short. Instead of cutting a tenon on one part and a mortise in the other i rout identical mortises in both parts and connect them with a fitted strip of wood a loose tenon. Anywhere that a wide member like the sill rail of a door or apron of a table was tenoned into a narrower member like the stile of a door or leg of a table instead of having a single tenon wider than it was long they used two tenons of the proper proportion. 11 bottom rail with 2x 2 1 2 wide tenons 7 latch rail with 2x 2 wide tenons.

I already have 5 cutters yielding 1 4 x 1 2 stub tenons so buying new tooling is out. Repairing them without compromising their integrity required patience and an understanding of their mortise and tenon joinery. Levine assembled his doors with loose tenon joinery and needed only one dado blade setup. I plan on using either loose tenon or dowels machined prior to running the copes.

Moldings were applied after the doors were complete. The difference is that in a loose tenon joint the tenon fits into mating mortises in the pieces whereas in the traditional version of the joint the tenon is. In all tests the 3 8 long tenons held onto the surrounding wood. After some 200 years of hard knocks and spotty maintenance in the harsh climate of coastal maine our federal period home s frame and panel doors exhibited a range of problems from gaps and loose joints to outright rot.

Structurally a loose tenon joint resembles a traditional mortise and tenon joint and it s every bit as strong. That s what really holds the door together. Because these tenons don t extend deeper than the groove be sure to strengthen the joint by thoroughly gluing the tenon shoulders and ends. Additionally the tenon s offset shoulder adds rigidity to the joint.

Like the mortise and haunched tenon joints the stile split at the bottom of the groove during the pull apart tests. Loose tenon joinery is perfect for casework tables and doors of all sizes. The profiled corner must be mitered for the joint to close. Levine s process can be used for doors with a variety of molding and panel layout options.

Both joints gain their strength from a thick solid wood tenon. To avoid cleaning up lots of excess glue it s best to apply glue to the grooves rather than to the panel. So doors and windows were through mortised while table legs were not.