How-To: How To Make Breadboard Ends

To fasten a breadboard end to a table top securely, but allow for wood movement do the following:

1) Make the tongue on the end table top and the matching grove on the breadboard end. A stopped mortise will look best as the tennon will not show. The tenon and matching mortise should be machined carefully so that there is no slop...they should fit snug, but not require three people to assemble together.

2) Place the table top upside-down on a supporting structure and slide the breadboard end(s) on.

3) With a 1/4" drill bit in your hand-held drill, make three holes that penetrate the bottom of the breadboard and just slightly through the tenon into the top half of the breadboard end. Do not drill all the way through the top of the breadboard end! 2 holes should be a couple of inches in from the edge of the table and the third one in the center. These holes will be used to pin the end on with dowels.

4) Temporarily remove the breadboard end(s) and elongate the two holes near the edges in the tenon on the end(s) of the table top. (Do not elongate them in the breadboard ends) the elongation should be in the same direction as the width of the table top...parallel to the breadboard end(s).

5) Put a small amount of glue on the tenon in the middle only...just a few inches is all that is needed...and slide the breadboard end onto the tenon. Take some 1/4" hardwood dowel and make three “pins”. Glue the center “pin(s)” in their corresponding holes.

6) Start the remaining “pins” in their respective holes and apply glue only to the portion of the dowel material that will engage the bottom portion of the breadboard ends. The glue must not get to the tenon. The reason for this is to allow the “pins” to float in the elongated holes in the tenon as the wood moves.

7) After all is dry, sand and finish the table top normally.

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