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Dissassembling drawbored mortise and tenon joints

Woodworking Asked by colinmarc on August 11, 2021

In Chris Schwarz’s blue workbench book, he mentions that unglued, drawbored pins can be drilled out of a mortise and tenon joint in case the piece (for example, a heavy bench) needs to be disassembled and moved. Could someone with experience doing that speak to how difficult it is? What about re-pegging the joint afterwards? Is it an effective way to produce "knock-down" furniture that doesn’t need to be moved very often, without sacrificing rigidity?

One Answer

I haven't read the book, so caveat emptor here...

Having said that, a non-blind pin (ie, one that's visible on both sides and far and away the most common approach) can easily be punched out.

I don't know why you'd want to drill, frankly, as you'd risk hitting the tenon and forcing yourself into an ever-expanding cycle of bigger and bigger pins.

Pegging afterwards is probably a bit hit/miss. The action of the drawbore deliberately mutilates fibers in the tenon, and doing that over and over again isn't a winning proposition.

You might look at the google image search results for "pegged trestle arts and crafts table" for some inspiration on external (ie, easy to remove) pegs.

If this was me, and I was opposed to mechanical fasteners, I would peg without drawboring. Or have an incredibly mild drawbore action -- like a 32nd. This would also mean that the fit of the mortise/tenon had to be exemplary and possibly designed to be a bit bigger than typical.

Mechanical fasteners like a "barrel nut" / "cross dowel", combined with a connector bolt with a big flange (ie, example from Rockler) would be my go-to strategy if I wanted something I could take apart and reassemble. Keep in mind that only a few parts need to be disassemble-able: the top needs to come off the legs, and (design depending, of course) the rails connecting the legs. The leg assemblies can be permanently built.

Answered by Aloysius Defenestrate on August 11, 2021

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