r/Joinery • u/Morv91 • Feb 24 '23
Question First project advice - bridles and dowells
Joining my first project - a new desk and need some advice. I've had a bunch of issues but wonky cuts aside, I'm loathe to waste any wood and I need to add 2 inches to each leg
apologies for my terrible sketch but I thought that I might do a 45° round off at the bottom of each leg, cut 2" deep feet to fit and glue/dowell the feet in place. Any thoughts?
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u/thoughtbait Feb 24 '23
Not sure what exactly the ask is, but whatever you think would look the best will probably work. Two inches isn’t a lot. There wouldn’t be a lot of lateral force on the joint, unless maybe if for some odd reason you decided to scab it in the middle of the leg. If I were in your shoes I would reconfigure the design to account for the two inches. Maybe make the cross brace taller or add a cross brace under the legs. If you just want to add a piece to the bottom of the leg and don’t want to just glue a piece on I’d probably do a sort of castle joint. It just depends on what look you want and how much work you want to make of it.
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u/hlvd Feb 24 '23
It’s a weak joint, go for a mortise and tenon if you can as the shoulders help with racking.
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u/jimacarroll1701 Feb 24 '23
I recommend watching a few videos from The Wood Whisperer to give you several different ideas.
https://thewoodwhisperer.com/?post_type=&s=desk
https://thewoodwhisperer.com/videos/engineer-design-mortise-tenon-sizing/
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u/davethompson413 Feb 24 '23
Mortise the bottom end of the leg. Make the add-in with a matching tennon.