Quick, easy, and strong — Plans NOW® a tongue and groove joint is all www.plansnow.com three. And all you need to make it is a Tongue & Groove table saw. Joinery RAIL henever I’m building frame In most cases, Wand panel assemblies that the groove is cen- use a plywood or hardboard panel, I tered on the edge of almost always use a tongue and the frame piece. groove joint. There are a few good Start by adjusting STILE reasons for this. Besides being quick the rip fence on PANEL and easy to make, the assembly is your table saw so incredibly strong. That’s because a the blade cuts close hardboard or plywood panel can be to the center, as glued into the frame. shown in Figures 1 and 1a. But don’t worry about being the groove (left GROOVES centered perfectly on the first try. drawing below). The first step in creating a tongue Flip Workpiece – The reason is To solve this, and groove joint is to cut the simple. After making the first pass, it’s important to grooves in the rails and stiles that just flip the workpiece end-for-end keep the work- make up the frame. and make a second pass (Figure 1b). piece pressed This way, even if your blade isn’t per- down against the fectly centered, the groove will be. saw table. So I 1 To fine-tune the width of the make sure to FEATHERBOARD KEEPS WORKPIECE groove, nudge the rip fence over a check the groove after each cut and, TIGHT AGAINST FENCE little and make another cut. Keep in if necessary, make another pass. mind that you’re removing material Groove Width – There is one from both sides of the workpiece. So thing to mention about the width of RIP 1 FENCE it’s best to make small adjustments the groove. If I’m using /4" plywood and sneak up on the final width. or hardboard, I cut the groove to Troubleshooting – Getting a per- match the thickness — which is 1 fectly centered groove involves more often slightly less than /4" thick. 1 than just flipping a workpiece. It’s But if I’m working with /2" ply- a. b. important that it stays tight against wood, like on the workstation, I cut a FIRST SECOND 1 PASS PASS the rip fence. So I like to use a feath- /4"-wide groove and then cut tongues SHOULD CENTERS CUT GROOVE erboard to hold it tight (Figure 1). on the panels to match (see inset). CLOSE TO ON CENTER WORK- Another problem is not cutting Blades – One last thing. If you’ll LINE PIECE the groove deep enough. This can see the bottom of the grooves (like on happen when the workpiece “rides a frame and panel door), you might up” during the cut, causing a step in want to consider using a rip blade to TROUBLESHOOTING GROOVES

ALTERNATING FLAT-TOPPED TEETH TEETH STEP WILL KEEP PANEL FROM SEATING FULLY RIDGES FLAT

CROSSCUT RIP BLADE BLADE

{ Downward Pressure. To prevent stepped { Blade Choices. A crosscut blade produces grooves with ridges. cuts in the bottom of the groove, hold the A better choice for cutting grooves is a rip blade. The flat-topped workpiece firmly against the saw table. teeth produce a groove with a perfectly flat bottom.

From Shopnotes Magazine Page 1 ©2002 August Home Publishing. One copy permitted for personal use. Other copies prohibited. All rights reserved. TECHNIQUE 2 AUXILIARY FENCES make the cut. It leaves a perfectly flat the tongue. It should fit the groove bottom (see bottom of page 1). with a slightly snug fit. After cutting all the tongues on TONGUES both ends of all the rails, you can turn Once the grooves are complete, the your attention to the tongues on the USE MITER GAUGE 1 next step is to cut the tongues on the /2" plywood panels. For this you can TO KEEP WORKPIECE ends of the rails. I prefer to use a dado leave the rip fence set and simply SQUARE blade to cut the tongue. This way, you adjust the height of the blade to cut a TONGUE LENGTH CUT can cut the tongue in two passes rabbet along the edge of the panel. TONGUE IN TWO using a single setup. Again, it’s best to sneak up on the fit. PASSES To do this, start by burying the STILE dado blade in an auxiliary fence ASSEMBLY RAIL (Figure 2). Then adjust the fence to set At this point, you’re just about ready the length of the tongue (Figure 2a). to glue up the assembly. But it’s BLADE Blade Height – The next step is always a good idea to dry assemble a. HEIGHT b. to set the height of the blade to estab- things to check for any problems. lish the thickness of the tongue. As Sand – Then you can sand the before, the idea is to make two face of the panel as well as the inside Attaching the stiles is just a matter passes, flipping the workpiece over edges of the stile and rails. These of repeating the same process. But between each pass (Figure 2b). This areas are difficult to sand later. here I apply glue to both sides of the will center the tongue on the rail. Glue – Like most glue-ups, the tongues on the rails (Figure 3b). But you still need a starting point. trick is using enough glue to make a After clamping the pieces A good guide is the groove itself. strong joint, but not so much that it together (Figure 4), check to see Simply raise the blade until it’s just runs all over the place. I start by that the frame is flat and square. If it about even with the groove (Figure gluing the rails to the panel, applying isn’t flat, try loosening the clamps a 2a). Here again, make your cuts on a glue to the groove and inside face of bit. And if it isn’t square, try reposi- test piece and check the thickness of the tongue on the panel (Figure 3). tioning the clamps slightly.

CLAMP ACROSS SECOND: GLUE FIGURE MIDDLE TO KEEP STILES PANEL STILES ONTO FROM BOWING 3 TONGUE 4 FIRST: GLUE RAILS ONTO PANEL

NOTE: WIDTH AT STILE ALIGN TONGUES RAIL MIDDLE SHOULD EQUAL ON RAILS SHOULDER-TO-SHOULDER AND PANELS LENGTH OF RAIL CLAMP ACROSS BOTH ENDS OF CLAMPING BLOCK a. b. ASSEMBLY REDIRECTS PRESSURE TO COTTEN SWAB ROUNDED OVER CENTER OF JOINT HELPS SPREAD CLAMPING BLOCK (SEE DETAIL) SPREAD GLUE GLUE ON INTO TONGUE GROOVES

TROUBLESHOOTING TONGUES

TONGUE SHOULDERS FACES AREN'T IS TOO ASSEMBLY WIDE AREN'T TIGHT FLUSH TONGUE IS EASIER CHEEK IF ENDS ARE CHAMFERED SLIGHTLY

TONGUE TONGUE TONGUE IS TOO STICKS IS TOO LONG OR PIECE THIN SANDPAPER ATTACHED SPLITS TO ONE SIDE ONLY SHOULDER

{ Tongue Troubles. When the tongue is too long (left) or too wide { Fitting the Tongue. Lightly sand the tongue cheeks (center), assembly is difficult. A tongue that’s too thin (right) results and chamfer the ends to get a good fit in the groove. in a poor glue joint and makes it hard to align the faces. But stay clear of the shoulder to keep it sharp.

From Shopnotes Magazine Page 2 ©2002 August Home Publishing. PlansNOW.com All rights reserved.