Are there guidlines on what size of mortis and tennon joint to make for a particular wood thickness?
I just had a project go really bad.
Wanting to learn how to make mortis and tenon joints I decided to make a simple chair. I have made some test joints that seemed to fit and work well.
First I purchased some 1x2 pine at home depot thinking it was not too expensive and if it did not work I would not be burning too much wood (using pine of such small dimension was probably my first mistake).
All the joints fitted nicely but while trying to assemble the last couple pieces I was having trouble getting the last couple tenons together after applying glue and using a hammer to force the issue when first one piece of wood split and then another and the chair is no more. Being new to this, are there guidlines on what size of mortis and tennon joint to make for a particular wood thickness?
One suspicion that I have is that 1 inch pine with a mortis cut into it is too weak. Once christmas is over I'm going to try some 1x2 maple and see how it works. Or should I try for something thicker for starters
We are planning on having a fire in the fireplace on christmas and I have lots of fresh kindling to start it.