Furniture Glossary | Mortise & Tenon Joints

Mortise & Tenon Joints

Simple and strong, the mortise and tenon joint is used as a method of joining two pieces of wood together. The basic idea is that end of one of the wood piece is inserted into a hole cut in the other wood piece. The end of the first wood piece is called the tenon, and it is usually narrowed with respect to the rest of the piece. The hole in the second wood piece is called the mortise. The joint may be glued, pinned, or wedged to hold it in place.

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