Making breadboard ends with only hand tools?

[MatthewKing]

Hi All,

Trying to get my head around creating the joints for breadboard ends, but something isn't clicking.

I've read several tutorials etc on the internet but they all seem to involve having a proper workshop setup.

The result i'm looking for is something like this:
http://tinyurl.com/4lwnq7

How would you advise going about it?

While I'm here, the general rule of thumb for dealing with the seasonal growth in the wood seems to be to only glue the center tenon, would that work if I only glued the front one, with the intention to make any excess from growth show at the back of the top?

The end will be about 600m long.

Thanks in advance,
Matthew

 

[jonbikebod]

Hi Mathew,
First of all, breadboard ends work OK if the main section is manmade. The centre section will not move much and the ends will not move much along their length and so all will be well. This seems to be the case in your link.
It is a frowned upon practice if the main centre section is made from solid wood or planks. The seasonal movement of the centre will be far greater than the lengthways movement of the ends (seven to fifteen times as much) While this may be acceptable for short joints such as a breadboard, the longer the joint the problem compounds itself.
The two dimensions will only coincide twice a year when the humidity is the same as when you made them! Gluing just the centre allows this movement and also keeps he end on. If you only fixed ione end to conceal the movement the other (back)end isn’t fixed to anything so the ends would be very inclined to fall off…
There musty be many ways of cutting the joint with hand tools the ones that spring to mind would be a plough plane for the groove in the ends and a rebate plane (with nicker) such as the Stanley #78 to cut the two rebates (top and bottom) on the ends of the centre section. If you don’t have these then sawing (with a clamped on baton as a guide unless you are confident of your sawing ability) and removing the waste with chisels to a marked knife line is feasible but would take a lot of time and effort to do accurately. Personally I would prefer to spend that time considering an alternative to a breadboard ends….
Jon.

 

[MikeG.]

Matthew,

Jon is right about the pitfalls of breadboard ends, but it doesn't have to be a major problem. If you have a stable internal environment (ie little in the way of seasonal temperature and humidity variation), and if you stablise and aclimatise the timber to this environment by leaving it to settle for a number of weeks in the room where it will be kept, you should be fine.

I have breadboard ends on a number of projects in my house, and with your eyes shut you would be unable to feel the join where the grain changes direction. Here is the only work-in-progress photo I have....

The only difficulty in making this by hand would be the groove. Without a specialist plane I am not really sure how you would attempt this by hand............I suppose you could score some parallel lines then chisel out, but that really would require some skill. The mortices are simply extensions to the depth of the groove. Access to a router table would make it a lot simpler for you!

Mike

 

[OPJ]

I had my ash stacked indoors for six months before beginning work on a coffee table with breadboard ends... Since the job was finished a few months ago, with the wet summer we've had, the central 'panel' has swollen in width so that it protrudes past the ends by almost 2mm! :shock:

Our house could be warmer/better insulated, yes, but, sometimes you have no control over this. It doesn't bother me much, I just "know" it's there - no-one else seems to notice.

 

[MatthewKing]

Thanks for the responses guys, I think I'll have one more go with my router and see if I can get anywhere this time. If not I'll take my time with the saw/chisel approach, I don't mind spending time on it as long as its going to work!

The reason I'm quite adamant on breadboard ends is because I'm trying to match some other furniture in the room.

I'll get there in the end and try put up some pics (first project) as long as it stays together long enough

 

[Woodmagnet]

Good luck with the project Mathew. :wink:
Looking forward to seeing the final result.

 

[Argus]

.


For what it’s worth, my take on the type of breadboard table end that you showed in your picture indicates (if you look carefully) all the central boards glued together, with the central hole being circular and the two end dowel holes being oval to allow lateral movement. This means that movement radiates in both directions from a central point and the sides are free to move in relation to the end board.
In time this will inevitably result in an overlap at the edges.

Perhaps I’m not seeing the picture correctly, but that’s what appears when you enlarge it for a better look. http://tinyurl.com/4lwnq7

It’s a lost art these days, but table tops with bread board ends that I have seen on genuine old tables were built from an opposite point of view.
The Bread board ends prevented a row of jointed boards from cupping or changing shape with changes in humidity that would be normal before we had sealed houses with central heating.

1 - The outside edge boards and the bread board ends formed a solid external frame that is fixed with a single peg in each corner, usually as a drawbore arrangement.

2 - This kept the sides and the ends in line and all the movement took place across the centre boards with sufficient space being allowed for this to take place, taken up by the T&G.

The central boards are assembled loosely along their length with either a tongue and groove or a long spline; the ends of the central boards were then tennoned and fixed into a loose mortise in the end boards these were then fixed in place with a slotted hole for the dowel.
When finally fitting up, you need to allow space between each board for the inevitable seasonal sideways movement to take place on the central boards only. As I said, this arrangement was common before central heating became the accepted norm and allowed the table top to move without any stress or splitting or any changes in its external dimensions.
Additionally the type of stock available in those old days contained a naturally higher moisture content, being air dried, than the kiln-dried timber that we invariably use. Typically, none of this was glued. You can use this type of joined boards on anything that needs a flat surface.

Can it be made by hand?
Certainly, with a few basic tools. Marking gauges, mortise chisels and a decent plough plane – Shell or spoon bits are useful for cutting oval peg holes. Alternatively you can use machines for the joints.

.

 

[MatthewKing]

Thanks for the history Argus, very interesting. In my case though I'm just trying to copy some existing furniture I want to match. I had read about the qualities of keeping the joined wood straight though.

Had a go with my router again today, and managed a snug fit. But I can only do the groove the entire length of the piece.

So its a bit like tongue and groove but with individual tongue's on each piece of joined wood. With the necessary doweling technique allowing for movement, would that work? (problem being there would be empty spaces between them, which could leave it a bit weak..)

I only have router bits that require the wood to be on its side during the cut (for the groove) but I've been looking at some rebate cutters, which appear to cut the other way, so the wood could lay flat. e.g.

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/60536/Bla ... g-x-12-7mm

That may allow me to cut indivudual "grooves/mortises" (not sure on my terminology here!) if my thinking is correct? But at 12.7mm is that deep enough?

Excuse the complete lack of knowledge on my part, learning as I go

 

[Chems]