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### Article: Exploring Loose Tenon Joinery with a Festool Machine

In the world of woodworking, creating strong and durable joints is essential for any project. Among the various methods available, loose tenon joinery stands out as one of the strongest and most reliable techniques. In this article, we’ll delve into the process of using a Festool handheld loose tenon machine to create these joints, following the detailed steps demonstrated in the video transcription provided.

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#### Introduction to Loose Tenon Joinery

Loose tenon joinery is a time-honored technique that has been used for thousands of years. It involves creating a mortise (a rectangular hole) in one piece of wood and a corresponding tenon (a matching protrusion) on another piece, which fits perfectly into the mortise. This method ensures a strong and secure joint, making it ideal for furniture and other woodworking projects.

In modern times, tools like the Festool handheld loose tenon machine have made this process more accessible and efficient. Instead of hand-cutting each joint, the machine automates the process, allowing you to create precise mortises and tenons quickly and accurately.

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#### Setting Up the Machine: A Step-by-Step Guide

Before diving into the project, it’s important to set up your tools correctly. Here’s how the professionals in the video prepared for their work:

1. **Safety First**: Always wear safety glasses when working with power tools. This is a crucial step to protect your eyes from debris and flying particles.

2. **Machine Preparation**: The Festool loose tenon machine comes with preset stops, which ensure accurate cuts every time. Make sure the machine is turned on and running smoothly before you begin cutting.

3. **Adjusting for Material Thickness**: The machine has an auxiliary fence that allows you to work with different thicknesses of material. By flipping up the appropriate flap, you can set the depth of the mortise precisely.

4. **Marking the Board**: Use the center line on the face of the domino (the part that makes the tenon) to align with your preset mark on the board. This ensures that the cutting head enters the board at the correct position.

5. **Cutting the Mortise**: With the machine running, carefully bring it into contact with the board. The cutting head will oscillate back and forth, creating a clean mortise in the wood. Repeat this process on both sides of the board to create matching mortises for your tenons.

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#### Creating the Tenon

Once you’ve cut the mortise, the next step is to create the corresponding tenon. This is where the Festool machine truly shines:

1. **Removing the Waste**: After cutting the mortise, flip the board over and use the machine to remove the waste material from the backside of the board. This creates a floating tenon that isn’t attached to the workpiece.

2. **Matching the Tenons**: Each tenon is designed to fit perfectly into its corresponding mortise. By using the same preset stops on your machine, you can ensure consistency across all your joints.

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#### Assembling the Joint

With both the mortise and tenon prepared, it’s time to bring them together:

1. **Applying Glue**: Apply a small amount of wood glue to the tenon. The grooves on the domino will help distribute the glue evenly, ensuring a strong bond.

2. **Inserting the Tenon**: Carefully insert the tenon into the mortise. Make sure it’s flush with the surface of the board and aligns perfectly with the edge.

3. **Clamping**: Use clamps to hold the joint together while the glue dries. This ensures that the joint remains tight and secure during the curing process.

4. **Finishing Touches**: Once the glue has dried, run a sander over the joint to smooth out any rough edges. You’ll end up with a clean, professional-looking joint that’s ready for your project.

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#### The Strength of the Joint

The mortise and tenon joint is one of the strongest joints you can create in woodworking. In the video, the hosts demonstrated just how durable this joint is by testing its strength. If you were to try to break the joint, the wood itself would splinter before the glue line gives way. This level of strength makes it an excellent choice for projects that require structural integrity.

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#### Conclusion

Loose tenon joinery, when done correctly, is a timeless and reliable method for creating strong joints in woodworking. With tools like the Festool handheld loose tenon machine, even those new to the craft can achieve precise results with minimal effort. By following the steps outlined here, you can create beautiful, durable furniture and projects that will last a lifetime.

Remember to always prioritize safety when working with power tools, and take your time to set up your machine correctly. With practice, you’ll master this technique and enjoy the satisfaction of building something truly special.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe're not going to deal with the molding right now we're going to go back to our style and rail system we've got a whole bunch of things gang cut we are making basically a picture frame first with plywood put to the back that's it that picture frame style and rail how are we joining that so there's several different ways that you can join it probably the most common recently would either be to use a biscuit joiner pocket hole joinery or the way to make the strongest joint is going to be with a loose tenon which festool makes a handheld loose tenon machine all right so brent you're up we'll talk to you about it we've got a sample here of one of our styles one of our rails this idea of a loose tent let's start with a tenon because what are we actually this is morris and tenon joinery has been around for thousands of years so all we're doing nice and loud for the good people way back there so now now what we're doing is we're making the mortise with the machine and we produce the tenons themselves all this machine is the idea of the floating tenon right this is not attached to your work this is eventually going to go into two mortises not at all all right so using the domino just like gary didn't plot a tape measure i can utilize the domino to do all my accurate cuts for me to do that get my safety glasses on pop this out and i have preset stops on the machine itself turn it on then we can flip it around and do the same thing on the other side all right so let's break this down here and have a look at um what we're looking at here so this is what we end this is what we end up right here okay and you were and we've got one on this side and we've got one on that side you were able to index that how let's pull this machine back and look at that so we look at the face of the domino we have these flaps right here we actually have two sets this is an auxiliary fence that allows us different positions to work with different thickness material when one of those is up we end up coming into the board and that's going to set where the cutting head comes into it right and then on the other side flip that down flip that down and i can do one of two things i can flip out another reference point or on the face right here we have a center line that i can line up with the preset mark and that's going to give us the other side right there right and let's just see if we can find a way to show these folks what the cutting head looks like so reveal that if i turn that on and if i just run it so it's spinning and it's oscillating back and forth which makes that mortise do that again for it just put it down there keep it going for a second essentially a drill bit it's going in and around right gotcha so now we've got these where we need them on all the pieces what's our assembly process from there we'll take that over to to gary for that all right okay so we're going to i'm sorry before you go to what i'm getting to you is sure what now show us the show us the floating tenants going in let's get to that part so if we look at uh this piece right here i've already got one in here all right it's just a simple tenon that goes right in the mortise so let's just let's just show that nice and slow these folks can see it i got a million people on the other side of that right there you got one in already all right keep going because if you look at the dominoes themselves there's grooves on them on the top and bottom so that allows when you put the glue in there it expands and spreads out through all through the tenon and gives you a nice solid joint we've glued them put them in we've got these coming out this goes together how show us that so if we take this piece so this is our bottom this is our oh all right already had one in here so let me take this one out no i got that one nice i could take one of these out of it let's do that yeah that might be easier grip yeah try it this way that's perfect all right so let's see this nice and slow here ready i'm going to show you how to do this for camera that's what we want to go into there bring this guy in just like that boom that's going to be a glue joint blue joint nice and flush you've got your edge lined up so there's no trimming here run over it with a sander and you're ready to go give us a sense of the strength of that joint it's a very strong joint mortise and tenon joint is one of the strongest joints you can have if i was to break this joint what would happen is the wood would break the tendon won't you'd have glue left behind all around this tenon the material that we're using here yes what is this that is beach this is beast yeah that's a hard wood right there hard wood got it okaywe're not going to deal with the molding right now we're going to go back to our style and rail system we've got a whole bunch of things gang cut we are making basically a picture frame first with plywood put to the back that's it that picture frame style and rail how are we joining that so there's several different ways that you can join it probably the most common recently would either be to use a biscuit joiner pocket hole joinery or the way to make the strongest joint is going to be with a loose tenon which festool makes a handheld loose tenon machine all right so brent you're up we'll talk to you about it we've got a sample here of one of our styles one of our rails this idea of a loose tent let's start with a tenon because what are we actually this is morris and tenon joinery has been around for thousands of years so all we're doing nice and loud for the good people way back there so now now what we're doing is we're making the mortise with the machine and we produce the tenons themselves all this machine is the idea of the floating tenon right this is not attached to your work this is eventually going to go into two mortises not at all all right so using the domino just like gary didn't plot a tape measure i can utilize the domino to do all my accurate cuts for me to do that get my safety glasses on pop this out and i have preset stops on the machine itself turn it on then we can flip it around and do the same thing on the other side all right so let's break this down here and have a look at um what we're looking at here so this is what we end this is what we end up right here okay and you were and we've got one on this side and we've got one on that side you were able to index that how let's pull this machine back and look at that so we look at the face of the domino we have these flaps right here we actually have two sets this is an auxiliary fence that allows us different positions to work with different thickness material when one of those is up we end up coming into the board and that's going to set where the cutting head comes into it right and then on the other side flip that down flip that down and i can do one of two things i can flip out another reference point or on the face right here we have a center line that i can line up with the preset mark and that's going to give us the other side right there right and let's just see if we can find a way to show these folks what the cutting head looks like so reveal that if i turn that on and if i just run it so it's spinning and it's oscillating back and forth which makes that mortise do that again for it just put it down there keep it going for a second essentially a drill bit it's going in and around right gotcha so now we've got these where we need them on all the pieces what's our assembly process from there we'll take that over to to gary for that all right okay so we're going to i'm sorry before you go to what i'm getting to you is sure what now show us the show us the floating tenants going in let's get to that part so if we look at uh this piece right here i've already got one in here all right it's just a simple tenon that goes right in the mortise so let's just let's just show that nice and slow these folks can see it i got a million people on the other side of that right there you got one in already all right keep going because if you look at the dominoes themselves there's grooves on them on the top and bottom so that allows when you put the glue in there it expands and spreads out through all through the tenon and gives you a nice solid joint we've glued them put them in we've got these coming out this goes together how show us that so if we take this piece so this is our bottom this is our oh all right already had one in here so let me take this one out no i got that one nice i could take one of these out of it let's do that yeah that might be easier grip yeah try it this way that's perfect all right so let's see this nice and slow here ready i'm going to show you how to do this for camera that's what we want to go into there bring this guy in just like that boom that's going to be a glue joint blue joint nice and flush you've got your edge lined up so there's no trimming here run over it with a sander and you're ready to go give us a sense of the strength of that joint it's a very strong joint mortise and tenon joint is one of the strongest joints you can have if i was to break this joint what would happen is the wood would break the tendon won't you'd have glue left behind all around this tenon the material that we're using here yes what is this that is beach this is beast yeah that's a hard wood right there hard wood got it okay\n"