Talk:Mortise and tenon

Stub tenon & mortises
User:Carnildo reverted unexplained changes by an anonymous user who had replaced 5 cm with 5 mm for stub tenons and 7 cm with 7 mm. To me, a 5 cm (2 inch) tenon is not a stub tenon, but just a regular tenon unless it's on a really big piece of wood, as in timber frame construction. I checked with a few references in my woodworking library, and it seems it's another case of different regional usages. In Ernest Joyce's Encyclopedia of Furniture Making as well as a British Woodworkers' Dictionary, a stub tenon is simply a "blind tenon" where the the mortise does not penetrate through the piece. In other mainly American books such as Sam Allen's Wood Joiner's Handbook and Feirer's Cabinetmaking and Millwork, a stub tenon is a really short tenon used mainly in frame and panel construction, where the depth of the tenon on the rail is the same as the depth of the groove on the stile. Comments? Should I revert the reversion?Luigizanasi 20:50, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I wouldn't know one way or the other, I just know that anonymous users changing numbers or units without an edit summary tend to be wrong. If you've got a source that defines what a stub mortise or stub tenon is, then put in the definition and cite the source for it. --Carnildo 21:25, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I checked the reference at the bottom of the page where the text has been taken, and it does deal with M&T in timber framing, where a 2-inch tenon would be a stub give the size of the timbers used there. The terms need reworking, and we should also talk about fox tenons, haunched tenons, etc. Luigizanasi 21:40, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I was the anonymous user who changed the cm to mm and I've now created an account. I would agree entirely with Luigizanasi and can add a couple of references:- the British "Collins Complete Woodworker's Manual" by Jackson and Day and the American "Woodsmith Bookcases, Shelves and Cabinets" pub by Time/Life. I'm not quite sure whether it's a case of regional usage or whether it varies according to the type of construction. Certainly a stub tenon of say, 7mm in a 50mm rail would be very weak, unless it was part of a framed panel, where the panel adds rigidity. Perhaps a percentage of width would be more helpful. If a through tenon is 100%, maybe a stub tenon could be described as being usually between 25% and 75% of the width of the rail containing the mortise. Mollington40 17:24, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

I thought you guys were just splitting hairs here, so I looked it up in "Woodwork in Theory and Practice" by John A Walton (the accepted text for teaching in Australia). While I call a stub tenon any shortish tenon, the book calls a it a stub or stump tenon when it does not pass right through the material, and recommends that the length of the tenon is usually about 2/3rds the width of the stile. In my experience John Walton is usually right!! LOLMarkAnthonyBoyle 14:13, 24 November 2006 (UTC) ps I added the bit about 1/3rd the thickness of the rail. I hope this agrees with other users
 * Welcome to the wonderful world of woodworking terminology, where the same term means different things and different terms mean the same thing and everything is a confused morass. :-) The best we can do is document them all and provide redirects and disambiguation pages  Luigizanasi 18:59, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Feather tenon?
Question:What's a "Feather Tenon" I've never heard of or seen the term "feather tenon"...but see this same joint frequently(and solely) referred to as a "loose tenon." I don't have any formal reference books here, and perhaps it is technically correct to refer to it as a "feather tenon" (anyone have a citation?)...but a simple google search shows _many_ products dedicated to producing this joint referring to it as a "loose tenon". The only online references to "feather tenon" I can find appear to be derived from the same source -- as the copy is identical to the copy in this article. I also just did a quick search of my favorite - international - woodworking forums (lumberjocks.com/woodweb.com) and "feather tenon" doesn't appear in either forum while "loose tenon" is frequently discussed. Even if "feather tenon" is accurate/correct -- I would recommend adding "loose tenon" as a synonym. Pjaromin (talk) 19:02, 18 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I just edited the article to include the term, loose tenon. I had never heard of the term, feather tenon. But I found at least one source that defines a feather tenon as a loose tenon with rounded edges. I just realized that stating that a feather tenon has rounded shoulders as the article currently does is probably wrong. A tenon doesn't have shoulders.--Davefoc (talk) 20:56, 18 May 2013 (UTC)
 * I did some googling, then removed the entry to here: "* Feather tenon - a round-shouldered machined loose tenon (known as a fillet or feather) which is glued into a machine (often a router) made slot or mortise on each side of the joint."
 * I couldn't find a single source that didn't have the same exact wording as us, pre Davefoc's small alteration, so I guess they're all copied from here. I found two places where people were discussing this. At they said "I’d never heard it called that", "i have heard it called a loose or floating tenon but never a feather tenon" and so on. At  he had set up a vote, with a good drawing, and only 0.9% of his (unrepresentative) sample would call it a 'feather tenon'. So we have a lot of negatives: First the entry is still badly worded, saying 'shoulder' where it means 'edge' and having a whole parenthesis inserted into the middle of the compound word 'machine-made'. Second it is unsourced per WP:V, and third there are discussions (admittedly not reliable sources in themselves) saying that they read this exact article and don't know what its on about. Let's say that whoever wants to reinstate that text should first tidy it up and second provide a good reference for the meaning. --Nigelj (talk) 07:36, 19 May 2013 (UTC)

As I noted above, I had never heard of a feather tenant before I read this article. I did find what looked like a credible source for the term, that didn't seem to have been derived from this article. I didn't cite it because, for me the issue of whether inclusion of a definition for the term in this article was appropriate hadn't been settled. Even if the term means roughly what the Wikipedia article said it means, my view right now is that the term is insufficiently notable to deserve a definition in the article. If nobody comes along to support the inclusion of the term in a week or so I would suggest that the image which refers to feather tenon be removed also.--Davefoc (talk) 06:45, 23 May 2013 (UTC)


 * Feather tenon is a real term, although it's not common and it's a back formation from something else – actually a combination of two things.
 * "Splines" have been in widespread use for as long as the workshop circular saw. They are not tenons. A long slot is machined across the mating faces of a joint (hence the need for a circular saw) and a thin slip of timber or pre-made board is inserted. A simple and very popular way of reinforcing glued, butted mitres. I believe they originally date to 17th century fine cabinetry and box-making, with thin veneers available and a design need to make thinner and lighter work. Because of these splines' thinness, they are fairly often termed "feathers".
 * Loose or inserted tenons are another fairly common technique where two mortises are cut and a double ended tenon from separate timber placed between them. Twice as much work to cut, so not originally a popular technique – although well known for repairs and for where a weaker main timber required a strengthened tenon. With recent developments in machines though, we now have easy mortise cutters and easy manufacture of accurate loose tenon stock, although still not usually an integral tenon maker (unless you use a WoodRat). Such things develop commercially in the post-war period, for hobbyist or workshop (hand power tool rather than machine) in the 1990s. These machined tenons are generally round-ended, because that makes the mortise easier to cut and the tenon stock can be made either way.
 * When these two terms are combined, either by technique or by simple confusion of the terminology, then we see the "feather tenon" emerging. This is a thin, loose, inserted tenon. Either made specifically as tenon-sized stock, or else just a random piece of thin stock from the workshop. Andy Dingley (talk) 08:56, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

This is a list of sites that I found that either define or use the term, feather tenon:

http://tomsworkbench.com/2011/10/23/quick-poll-192/ Loose tenon 58.98%  (197 votes) Floating tenon 24.25%  (81 votes) Feather tenon 0.9%  (3 votes) Slip tenon 3.89%  (13 votes) Domino 7.19%  (24 votes) I have no idea what it is 2.69%  (9 votes) Something else 2.1%  (7 votes)
 * A poll taken to see how common the various terms are for loose tenons

http://stusshed.com/tag/tenon/ As modern machines have bought additional ease to the production of the joints, particularly in producing the mortise, the floating tenon (loose tenon, or feather tenon depending on your terminology) has come into being, and the domino is the latest version of that joint.
 * A woodworking blog

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-tenon.htm#didyouknowout Feather, or loose, tenons are separate pieces of wood, inserted into mortises cut into both pieces of the material being jointed. These tenons are normally secured with glue or pins. This type of tenon also is a variation on the biscuit joint, which is commonly used in frame construction.
 * A general knowledge information blog

http://www.uwyo.edu/4-h/publications/quiz_grams/woodjoints.pdf
 * A woodworking crossword puzzle published by the University of Wyoming that has an illustration of what I would have called a spline identified as a feather.

http://books.google.com/books?id=aCgBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP215&lpg=PP215&dq=feather+tenon&source=bl&ots=oPdZvVJKfP&sig=V6MO4pAELnMMOAcXiE3Bna5mVKQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Dy6hUY73Auf9iwKWqoHgBQ&ved=0CDEQ6AEwATgU 35. In very thick framing, the strength and firmness of the joint is much increased by putting a cross or feather-tongue in the shouder on each side of the tenon.
 * An 1855 book that uses the term, feather-tongue to mean what I would think of as a spline

Andy Dingley seems to be right that the woodworking term, feather, was a term for what is more commonly called a spline today and is still used like that although perhaps very rarely. It seems likely that Andy Dingley is right that the wood working term, feather tenon, emerged from the use of the woodworking term feather. I did not find sources that seemed to be independent of the Wikipedia article that included a requirement that the edges of a feather tenon be rounded. I thought I had previously. I was either wrong or I just couldn't find it today.
 * Comments

I was not sure that Andy Digley was right that a spline is not a kind of tenon. I wondered about that as I was making my minor edits to the article. Is a dowel joint a kind of mortise and tenon joint? If it is what part of the definition of mortise and tenon precludes a spline from being a tenon?--Davefoc (talk) 22:20, 25 May 2013 (UTC)


 * Tenons have shoulders. There's a claim being argued at present, involving Chepstow Castle, as to where the world's oldest surviving mortice and tenon joints are to be found. However it's complicated because the mortice is older than the tenon. The idea of "putting a stick in a hole" is surely ancient, closely followed by "rows of sticks in holes" to make fences and partitions. However these joints are weak and (mostly) they're not rigid, because the holes are somewhat irregular and there isn't a close fit between the mating surfaces. Invent the shouldered tenon though, and the rigidity now results from the shoulder butting against the face of the member with the mortice in it - two faces that are externally accessible and can be trimmed with a knife or axe. As a result, things made with shouldered tenons have a rigidity that's not easily achievable with "sticks in mortices" (until good drills and chisels are available). Andy Dingley (talk) 23:21, 25 May 2013 (UTC)

My apologies, but I didn't understand the point that Andy Dingley is making above. Was it in response to the question of whether a spline is a form of loose tenon or not? Was it in response the issue of whether a feather tenon has rounded shoulders? If it was in response to the spline issue there are shoulders in a spline joint similar to shoulders in a biscuit joint. The article says that a biscuit joint is a form of a mortise and tenon joint. If it was in response to my comment that tenons don't have shoulders then we are in a semantic area. What I meant was that calling the edges of the tenon, shoulders, as the article did wasn't correct. What was intended, I think, was to say that the edges of a feathered tenon were rounded and not the shoulders. However, it seems like a feather tenon does not necessarily have rounded edges so the issue is moot at this point in time.

Generally when we think of a tenon we don't include the piece that it protrudes from as part of the tenon and the shoulders in question are part of the piece that the tenon protrudes from. However I see some semantic ambiguity here.

Regardless, On the issue of what this article should say about feather tenons, I think, that there is enough usage of the term, feather tenon, based on the web search results I posted above to list, feather tenon, as an uncommon alternative term for a loose tenon. I am not sure what references to use to support a conclusion like that in the article. --Davefoc (talk) 07:28, 27 May 2013 (UTC)


 * The "shoulder" of a tenon is the part that forms the face of the non-tenon, from which the tenon protrudes. Splines don't have these and they don't form part of loose tenons (although there is still a shoulder in such joints).
 * The reason that this matters is that a tenon without shoulders is just a stick. Carpentry using "sticks in holes" is ancient, and these are classed as mortices, but they aren't tenons until the much later development of the shouldered tenon. The advantage of a shouldered tenon is that both the faces that control rigidity of the joint are now external, thus can be finished accurately with the primitive tools of the period. You can't really do joinery (which Wikipedia deleted anyway!) without shouldered tenons, as small, individual mortice joints without shoulders aren't usefully rigid.
 * No tenons have rounded shoulders. The rounded part on many loose tenons is just a corner, not the shoulder.
 * Not all tenons have shoulders. Forms have developed without them. Most notably, turned chairs developed quite early on because when a round tenon is made on a lathe, especially when the mortice is also cut on a lathe, it's possible to make a robust and close fitting joint, even without shoulders. However in the historical development of the M&T, adding shoulders to the tenon was a crucial step.
 * Biscuit joints aren't forms of M&T joint, except in the most tenuous way, they're forms of spline joint instead. The reason this matters is that splines locate well perpendicular to their face, but badly along their length. Biscuits deliberately don't locate at all lengthways, so that they allow adjustment and easy assembly (if rigidity is needed, two crossed biscuits are used). Andy Dingley (talk) 12:18, 27 May 2013 (UTC)

Chinese Architecture
I like the drawing that was added, but I feel that if historical references are going to be added to this article then we will need to mention the Japanese, Egyptian, French and English traditions as well.MarkAnthonyBoyle 23:04, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

is mortise and tenon joints be round? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.196.97.191 (talk) 07:42, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

answers
It is an ancient conversation, but yes stub tenons in traditional timber framing are typically two inches long. You need four inches to peg a tenon. In timber framing the M&T joint is never round (traditionally) but some manufacturers use machines to cut the joinery with a router bit and may leave the ends of the mortises and tenons rounded to avoid the hand-work of "squaring up" the joints. Jim Derby (talk) 21:20, 10 December 2012 (UTC)


 * In timber framing, where the mortices are too big to rout, they're also cut square by machine by using a portable chain mortiser. This is like a number of shallow, wide chainsaws side-by-side. Andy Dingley (talk) 23:16, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

missing illustration
§History and ancient examples begins
 * This is an ancient joint dating back 7,000 years.

But what's "this"? There should be an illustration with credit, but there isn't. --Thnidu (talk) 15:21, 11 May 2021 (UTC)