If anyone else has seen the episode, maybe we can offer opinions on the strategy used of making a mortise by cutting a dado into the edge of each of two pieces of wood and then glueing these edges together. Maybe one can argue that the glue is stronger than the wood, but my intuition tells me that one is inviting the glue joint to fail.
The problem is that Bill is ambiguous in his _terminology_ when asking the question, therefore no answer will be correct until that is determined.
When gluing wood you are basically dealing with faces, edges and end grain ... the correct answer would depend entirely upon which he was talking about.
I think my used of "edges" was correct. I made an effort. To be honest, I'm hesitant to call what is being cut a dado, but a dado blade is being used to do the cutting! : )
As for the technique, what were the dimensions of the stock and what was the size of the resulting mortise? I've done similar on very large pieces like make a 2" mortise in a large architectural post by gluing up three laminations and leaving room for the tenon in the glue-up. Essentially the same idea on a smaller scale.
A well-fitted long-grain glue joint is at least as strong as the wood in most cases; the tests show that generally the wood will break along its grain at some point rather than the glue line failing. The possible failure could be longevity...
For a beginner I'd presume it was seen as an easier expedient than hand chopping a mortise assuming the viewer doesn't have access to a mortiser...
Not always easy to tell from the question whether the poster is using the correct term to describe the process, which is why I posted what I did ... when it comes to technical advice, language and terminology are barriers to both giving competent advice, and the successful execution thereof.
Most folks, including many woodworkers, would offhandedly also describe the end grain of the board as an "edge", particularly if the board is equal to or wider than it is long.
This would certainly result in a complete different answer to the question about the strength of any glue up involving either one of both of the parts being wrongly described with that single term ... and perhaps a radically different result of acting on the advice than expected.
In this case if the glue joint is indeed joining two edges "long grain to long grain", which if properly done with modern glues would result in a joint that is more likely to be stronger than the wood itself, you can see how important it is to be damn certain that is indeed what is being asked.
IOW, it pays to make damned sure all parties are speaking the same language before giving advice if you want to put any faith in that advice. :)
(I recently went through three meeting with a professional kitchen designer before it was clearly understood that she had a totally mistaken notion about what a "face frame cabinet" was ... trust me, it pays to be AR about terminology in woodworking )
Anyone assuming that an individual with a reputation as a _designer to the stars_ would be versed enough in cabinet terminology to know the difference would have been bitten in the butt when it comes to bidding/pricing:
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