It's like fitting a square peg into a... square hole! Your Amish Originals Furniture Co. dining chair is constructed with a furniture-making technique that has been passed through the ages called mortise and tenon joinery.A mortise is a recess (a hole) that is cut into a piece of wood designed to accept a tenon. A tenon is a tongue cut at the end of a board that fits into the mortise. Once the tenon is joined into the mortise (a perfect fit), the joint is fortified with glue, wedges, or pins (usually a dowel). A mortise is either exposed or hidden, and the joint can be round or square.
It's just math and science! The thickness of the joint is one-third the thickness of the wood and the joint is designed to withstand tension and twist. Any wider or narrower and the joint will succumb to pressure. The tenon length is the same as the mortise depth, the tenon width is the same as the mortise length, and the tenon thickness is the same as the mortise width.
Aside from constant pressure from gravity, the mortise and tenon joint handles different types of stress - first, from use (when we lean back in a chair or push a table), and then, as we've mentioned before, the molecular activity of wood in its environment - wood shrinks and expands across the grain in response to the humidity.
A mortise and tenon joint is strong enough to carry shear (application of stress from two opposite directions that can cause the wood to move along the grain) and compression (a downward pressure force that can compress the wood) - compression can include gravity or sitting down to dinner).
Some tenons are shouldered which means the tenon is "framed" by the end of its rail wood. A shoulder can be as small as 1/8" to handle the job. (Consumer tip: shouldered tenons can cosmetically hide ill-fitting or weak joints!) A tenon without a shoulder is referred to as a barefaced mortise and tenon.
There are three main uses for mortise and tenon joinery in furniture: two-dimensional usually used for doors, mirrors, cabinet door frames, and wall panels, three-dimensional is used for chairs and table bases, and carcasses, used for bookshelves.
About the only thing that has changed about mortise and tenon joinery in thousands of years is the tools - while some wood artisans still painstakingly use chisels, now, special mortising machines (with chisel/drill bits) and tenon cutters create precise joints through technology and... more power!
Built to last: Amish-crafted furniture from Amish Originals Furniture Co. reflects a dedication to integrity, skill, technique, and expression that's literally thousands of years old... the good bones of great style.
▪ Human joints and their tolerance and resliency inspired mortise and tenon joinery.
▪ As long as 6,000 years ago, Chinese architects used mortise and tenon to connect large wood beams to build secure houses and structures that could handle intense earthquakes.
▪ In ancient Egypt, mortise and tenon joints were secured with an adhesive composition made of cheese.
▪ Mortise and tenon techniques have also been used by stone masons and blacksmiths.
▪ Mortise and tenon joinery was used in the construction of Stonehenge.
▪ Hand-made mortise and tenon techiques were used with a chisel and mallet up until about 1840. (It's a way to get an idea of the age of an antique chair.)
▪ Dovetailing is a form of mortise and tenon joinery.
▪ The word 'tenon' has Latin and Old French origins and the word 'mortise' has Arabic and Old French origins.
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