brass/steal tubing tenons... use them?

bscofield · Post by **bscofield** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 11:47 pm

How does everyone find that the walls of the mortise holds up to the metal tubing as a tenon? Now that I write this out I'm not sure why I would think that the metal would do more to loosen the tenon/mortise joint... While the metal is obviously harder would it really come into play with no wiggle room inside the tenon/mortise connection?

Thoughts?

achduliebe · Post by **achduliebe** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 10:54 am

Hey Ben,

The one time that I have used stainless tubing, I did kind of a reverse tenon/mortise. I had the metal tubing epoxied into the shank and a tenon in the stem. So the tenon stuck out of the shank and the stem just slipped right over it, it was very tight and remains so.

bscofield · Post by **bscofield** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 11:55 am

What I've thought of doing recently is something similar to what Random does. Cutting a tenon with no stem, epoxying that into the mortise and having the brass tube inserted into the ebonite mortise. I had thought what you mentioned but my only problem with that is that I have trouble getting a decent fit for my tubing in the stem to begin with... which means that I'm going to have a hard time putting in a new mortise wall too... hmmm...

ArtGuy · Post by **ArtGuy** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 10:01 am

The only time that I have used a metal tube for a tenon was with a bamboo I made. The metal tube was inserted into a mortise provided by a delrin sleeve that I insteted had into the bamboo. The fit was smooth and snug. I would not use a metal tenon for a non-bamboo pipe.

If you want a nice fit without turning a tenon, try going with a 5/16" mortise and a piece of 5/16" delrin as the tenon.

achduliebe · Post by **achduliebe** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 12:54 pm

Hey Ben,

After reading John's post I realized that I failed to mention that the reverse tenon/mortise that I used previously was on a bamboo shank pipe.

I would have to agree with John on using Delrin. The pipe I am working on right now, I just used Delrin for the tenon. I drilled a 5/16" mortise in the stem itself and epoxied a piece of 5/16" Delrin into it.