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  • What is a Floating tenon joint?
  • What do I need to make it?
  • What steps do I take?

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  1. Making
  2. Step-by-Step
  3. Joining

Floating tenon joint

This article will cover what is a floating tenon joint, why use this joint, and one way of making the joint.

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Last updated 4 years ago

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What is a Floating tenon joint?

A floating tenon is a joint commonly done with a tool called a . It cuts elongated holes or mortises in the timber you plan on joining together and then you glue a pre-made domino (tenon) into the mortises when you assemble the joint.

This type of joinery is quicker and easier than a and it provides much more cross grained glue surface area. With the appropriate number and size of dominos you can create very strong joints in a short period of time.

It can be used to align pieces of timber when glueing up a table top, for connecting legs to rails for basic furniture and for joining panels together for boxes, shelves and other items.

What do I need to make it?

What steps do I take?

Learn about the domino machine and domino joints in the video below.

The easiest method of making a floating tenon joint is by using the . This machine can cut mortises 4,5,6,8 and 10mm wide with depths up to 28mm and three different widths (depending on the cutter size).

Domino machine
domino machine
dowel joint
Figure 1. Domino Joint. Designer: Unknown