pine-to-cedar mortise and tenon

tim52 · May 9, 2011

Hey Folks,
I'm new to fine carpentry projects and am in the midst of building a dresser. I've selected 4 Cedar corner posts (4x4's) to which I'll be attaching pine tenons. I seem to be getting pulled in both directions by the advice I've gotten on Cedar, some say it's highly stable, yet it's also soft. It seems most popular to leave 1/16" in the end space for glue. Other than that, should I make any extra considerations for both expansion and stress to the cedar or should I simply stick to the normal, tight-fitting mortise and tenon techniques?

Thanks,
Tim

Ralph Barker · May 9, 2011

You might want to check the comparative expansion coefficients of the two woods.

Here's one, but several are available online:

Estimate Wood Movement Calculator

jw2170 · May 10, 2011

G’day Tim

Welcome to the router forum.

Thank you for joining us

tim52 · May 10, 2011

Thanks, albeit in small quantity, for the reponses! I believe I've got my grains aligned in appropriate directions and it seems that after messing with the wood movement calculator my bigger problem will be the pine's tangential expansion, which is a circumstance I believe my design will overcome.

Cherryville Chuck · May 11, 2011

Not sure which cedar you are working with. The one I am familiar with is western red cedar which is closely related to redwood. There is also aromatic cedar which I think is more closely related to juniper. I haven't had too much problem with movement in Western red cedar but I have had some problems with using the right glue. The properties of red cedar that make it rot resistant also make it a bit glue resistant. I think the ones that are most recommended are polyurethane and epoxy. Something else to consider.

pine-to-cedar mortise and tenon

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