tight wood joints

Hi Evon,

Thanks for your post, but I don't think it makes any sense - at least to me.

If you heat a tenon, it will expand, so how can you slip it into a mortise that is 1/8" or so smaller?

Maybe you mean to heat the mortise to get it to expand and then slip it over the tenon and as it cools, it would contract around the tenon.

Whew...is it gettin' hot around here or is it just me?

;-)

Lou

I would hazard a guess that the hot dry sand draws down the moisture content of the tenon, thus making it smaller.

scott

if it was metal, you'd be right. but it's wood. heat drives the moisture out, and it shrinks.

Made perfect sense to me and sounds like a neat trick.

Uhh,,, you're talking about wood not metal. The hot sand will suck the moisture out real quick. The shrink from loss of moisture will be great compared to any thermal expansion. Somebody posted the thermal expansion of wood recently and it is tiny, would be nothing in a small piece.