Good afternoon friends!

Today let's look at one of the ways to make a classic carpentry joint tenon - groove. We will not just make the connection on its own, but we will make a full-fledged product - a small decorative table. We will have the opportunity to practice, because such a product requires 8 connections of the drawers to the legs at once. Along the way, let's look at some other techniques for working with a hand router.

To make a tenon-groove joint, we start by cutting out the groove using a hand router. To do this, we will need a router with a rip fence and a straight groove cutter. In this example, the grooves are selected on the table legs at the junction with the drawers. In the photographs you see an example of making table legs from purchased balusters - this is how the table looks very impressive. However, if desired, you can also use a regular wooden block.

We mark the location of the future groove as follows: we find the center of the workpiece, because we want the groove to be exactly in the middle (in this case, the thickness of the block is 50mm, respectively, the center is 25mm). We mark the boundaries of the future groove. A board 100mm wide will be used as a drawer; accordingly, we will make a 90mm groove. After marking, we install the router with a parallel stop so that the center of the cutter is located exactly along the center line and proceed to cutting out the groove.

To reduce the load on the cutter, it is better to carry out the sampling gradually - in several passes, each time lowering the cutter lower and lower. In this case, the groove depth was 20mm, sampling was carried out in 4 passes with a step of 5mm. As you can see in the photo, on the first workpiece, I was not able to accurately observe the milling boundaries and the groove turned out to be a little larger than necessary. In this case, this is not a problem - the groove will still be completely covered by the drawer, but you should be careful and try to follow the markings. Without changing the router settings, we make the same grooves on all workpieces.

To avoid such a defect, pads are often pressed onto the workpiece, which physically do not allow the router to go further than the desired place, but in this case, since the groove is selected too close to the edge of the workpiece, it is not possible to use this method and you have to rely only on your own strength. If you often plan to make a tongue-and-groove joint, you should think about making a template that will allow accurately make grooves close to the edges of the workpieces. You should also be careful about possible lateral movement of the cutter - always press the rip fence firmly against the workpiece.

Next, we proceed to making the spike. I had a circular saw at my disposal, with which this is not difficult. We take the blanks for the drawers, set them on the saw to 20mm - the height of the future tenon, and raise the saw blade above the table to a distance equal to half the thickness of the groove. In this case, a cutter with a thickness of 15 mm was used, respectively, we extend the saw blade by 7-8 mm.

Thus, without changing the saw settings, we process all 4 workpieces for the drawers on both sides. Then, if necessary, we change the height of the saw blade, and process them from the ends in the same way to obtain a full-fledged tenon.

All that remains is to slightly round the corners of the tenon with a knife to ensure an exact match with the groove and the connection is ready!

After cutting the legs to size, you can proceed to gluing the legs and drawers.

All we have to do is make the tabletop. In this case, it was cut with a router from 30mm thick glued board. For more details on how this was done, see In principle, the tabletop can be of any shape.

The edge of the table top was then finished with an edge moulder. And glued to the dowels to the drawers.

The table is ready! Agree, thanks to the baluster legs it looks very impressive.

In the coming days, stay tuned for another post on techniques for working with a hand router. It will be interesting!

Good luck to everyone in the craft!

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A hand router is a universal mechanical tool in the home workshop. To use it correctly, you need to get basic lessons in working with a wood router. There are many Chinese-made milling cutters on the market, they are all of the same design and differ only in engine power. Experts recommend purchasing a more powerful tool, since the list of work performed will expand significantly. The craftsman will be able to cut out a pattern, make a quarter cut, cut tenons and perform other operations related to the manufacture of furniture.

Creativity without limits

Milling equipment is indispensable when processing wood. With its help, you can turn a wooden blank into an elegant decorative product. This equipment is most often used by professionals, but experienced amateurs can also master it. Using machinery is not an easy task, therefore, before you start working with them, you need to ensure your comfort and safety. Organization of the workplace is very important. The home craftsman must remember that during work there is a possibility of damage not only to the cutter or mechanical device, but also to health.

Woodworking is not just about working at the machine, but also preparing the workplace, planning the sequence of work performed. Before you start milling, you need to select the appropriate type of cutter for a specific task, taking into account its shape and size. You should select the speed of the machine and the cutting depth and do not forget that the material being processed must be securely attached to the table.

Depending on the specific type of milling device, the rules for their use are different in many aspects. Today, vertical milling machines in which the spindles are located above the work table are widely used. They have proven themselves to be excellent in operations such as wood milling, processing the edges of shelves and round table tops, making a groove, and joining wooden parts. When processing round structures, an indispensable addition is a special compass with a support plate, which ensures precision processing.

When working with a router, you need to learn how to move it calmly and smoothly. The key is to move the material being processed correctly and safely. This should not be done too slowly, as burn marks may appear on the wood, which can lead to damage to the material.

Chips appear when milling woodworking against the direction of the wood grain. In one pass it is necessary to mill to a depth of up to 8 mm; some models allow adjustment with an accuracy of 0.1 mm. Deep grooves and quarters need to be milled in several passes.

Processing of wooden parts

The first thing you need to learn is to correctly set the milling depth. To do this, you need to set the zero point. It is impossible to set it rigidly, because it changes every time the cutter is changed. The zero point is the position of the tool when the end of the cutter touches the material and is fixed with a special device called a clamp.

It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that each router has a different position when fixed. To control the depth of immersion of the cutting tool into the body of the material, a stop pin with a coarse adjustment scale is used.

When milling with an end mill, the counterforce from the cutting force moves the router to the side. To prevent this from happening, you need to use a rip fence. The milling process is as follows. Place the cutter along the marking line and secure the position of the stop with a special screw. Set the milling depth and turn on the machine. If the rip fence is installed on the left side, you need to pull the router towards you, when on the right side - away from you.

In order to select a quarter on a beam, you need to set the cutting edge of the cutter at the very edge, fix it, set the depth of the quarter, turn on the router and pull it towards you (if the stop is on the left edge of the beam). Milling the surface of narrow bars has its own peculiarity. The problem is that it is very difficult to hold the router on the narrow side of the workpiece. If it wobbles during operation, the groove will be inaccurate.

To avoid this problem, the block must be clamped with a clamp, and a block of exactly the same size must be placed in parallel. Then the milling machine will acquire two points of support and will not wobble.

Working with a hand router can replace working with a planing machine. To do this, you will need several accessories for the milling mechanism. It looks like this: attach a milling mechanism to two equal-sized slats and use it as a planer, where a large-diameter milling cutter is installed instead of a shaft.

Useful DIY crafts

In order to make something useful, for example, a box, it is not necessary to have a whole arsenal of complex equipment and expensive tools. You can get by with a minimum of tools and mechanisms . To perform carpentry work you will need:

Absolutely anything can be used as a material - for example, scraps of parquet boards, pieces of plywood and waste chipboards, but always at right angles. To simplify the work, you need to make a simple milling table. To process workpieces, you will need a large-diameter straight groove cutter. The process looks something like this. On a makeshift table, plan the ends of parquet board scraps. Mark the sides of the box and use a jigsaw to remove all excess.

The resulting blanks must be processed with a thicknesser to maintain the size of all sidewalls. If you don't have a surface planer, you can use a milling table. To do this, set the stop to the size of the workpiece and move the part between the stop and the rotating cutter towards you. The next operation to calibrate the sidewalls in length is performed with a jigsaw.

You can connect the sidewalls together with a mustache. To do this, you need to mill the ends of the sidewalls with a conical cutter with an angle of 90 degrees. This can be done using a router. Thus, the ends of the sidewalls have the same bevels of 45 degrees. Next you need to make grooves in the sides for the bottom. For this, an end mill with a diameter of 6 millimeters is used, equal to the thickness of the plywood. The parts are connected using glue. The product looks neat and beautiful both outside and inside. What else can you do with a hand-held wood router? Anything: for example, a shelf for things, drawers for storing vegetables or tools, kitchen furniture.

Toolbox

In order to make a tool box, it is necessary to strengthen the carpentry joint of the sides by inserting additional tenons. The operation is called cutting tenons with a hand router. It is very difficult to do it manually, so you need to make a simple device - a milling table . The principle of its manufacture is simple:

A device for cutting tenons in a board works as follows. Mark the place to be milled and, pressing the board against the stop bar, move the carriage, directing it towards the cutting tool. The resulting finger joint between the parts will be strong and reliable.

How to make a panel

One of the most frequently performed carpentry operations is making paneling. It is performed with a special cutter. To perform the work efficiently, it is necessary to make a simple device for the tabletop of the milling device. To do this, you will need thick-layer plywood measuring 500 x 300 x 10 millimeters. To exit the cutter, a hole with a diameter of 100 millimeters is cut. The parallel stop is attached to the table with clamps. The cutter is set taking into account the distance from the table surface to the sharp edge of the cutting tool of one millimeter. All sides of the workpiece are processed sequentially. The thickness of the panel is adjusted by lifting the cutter.

Using a hand router, it is very easy to create a furniture facade on the doors. To do this, you will need a shaped end mill, a copy sleeve and a plywood template. The technological process is very simple:

• attach the template to the workpiece using thin nails;
• set and record the depth of immersion of the cutter into the wood;
• install the copy sleeve on the milling mechanism;
• press the milling machine against the template and follow its contour.

The result is a neat design of the furniture facade.

Cheap and cheerful

Wood carving is always beautiful, rich and expensive. This is done by talented people, artists or sculptors. But there are ways of carving that anyone can do. For example, cutting patterns on wood with a hand router is very easy. The work is performed with a small diameter end mill along the contour of the pattern. To do this, you need to select a hardwood board, nail a stencil cut out of cardboard, and mill it according to the template.

A milling machine of any power is suitable for the job. It is desirable that it be light and comfortable, then it will be easier to copy the drawing. Therefore, you don’t need to worry about which router to choose for beginners; the main thing is to choose cutters with a diameter of 2 millimeters or more. When working, you need to be diligent in order to evenly pass the thin cutter along the contour of the design and not break it. The next step is to deepen the background; for this, a large-diameter flag cutter is used.

Hazardous factors

Milling machines require complete safety and high qualifications of the worker. When using electric machines, accidents may occur due to material ejected during milling. Therefore, the performer of the work must have special work clothes.

If heavy dust is generated during the milling process, you must wear safety glasses. Maximum safety in this situation is provided by special clamps and vices that effectively hold the workpiece, preventing it from being thrown out. Do not hold the workpiece in the rotation zone of the cutter with your hands or directly touch the rotating tool. It is necessary to use special clamping devices to advance the part during milling.

Dovetail, detachable tenon joint (trapezoidal grooves), used in mechanical engineering and carpentry for reliable fastening of parts to each other. In this material we will consider the manufacture of devices that facilitate the production of grooves in wood using a hand router.

DIY accessories for a wood router

The machine itself is a very ancient invention of mankind, descriptions of the principles of milling appeared in the 16th century, and the prototype of the machine was the invention of Leonardo da Vinci, who proposed rotating a round file to increase the processing of the product, which can be considered the first analogue of a milling cutter.

And already the American inventor Eli Whitney, over the years of his life from 1765 to 1825, brought to fruition all the scattered attempts to create a full-fledged machine, for which he is rightfully considered the creator of the first milling machine, although not all scientists agree with this statement.

And since the machine has such ancient roots, there are a great many adaptations for the manufacture of various parts, it is not possible to describe them all in the light of this material, and therefore we will consider only some of them, in my opinion, the most important and useful.

Universal device for tongue and groove connection

factory plate for making a tongue and groove connection

Used with a router to cut the corresponding grooves and tenons, it is installed in a vice and the part is pressed against the device with a clamp. Typically sold in stores.

connection appearance

Consider devices for milling grooves

Cut out the top part - a tabletop from 18 mm plywood, 40 cm long and sufficiently wide to process the thickest workpiece that you plan to join with a tenon.

Cut two 5x10 cm bars, sawing them to the same length as the top. The bars will subsequently play the role of pressing the workpiece and centering it relative to the groove in the tabletop. To prepare the top, draw a line down the center of the top, then rout a mortise along the line at one end.

schematic representation of equipment

note

The notch should be the same width as the copy ring you will use with your router bit. The notch should be long enough to match the length of the longest groove you will be cutting.

Then mill two adjustment slots perpendicular to the center line. Finally, drill an inspection hole between these two slots. To assemble the entire structure, screw the bolts into the jaws and secure the top to the bars with wing nuts and washers.

To use our equipment, draw a groove on the workpiece and mark the center line on it. Loosen the screws and place the workpieces between the bars so that the center line connects with the top line of the jig, making sure that the edge of the workpiece is opposite the edge of the top.

Pinch the lambs. Align the router bit to one end of the mortise drawing, then mark guide lines on the top surface of the table along the edge of the router base.

How to work correctly with tongue and groove equipment

Repeat this again to mark the lines of the other end. Route the slot by starting the cut at the bottom by aligning the router base with the first construction line, and stop routing when the insert reaches the second construction line.

Let's make a device for making spikes with our own hands

Product for making spikes

The wood and plywood jig shown above allows you to cut rectangular tenons with two shoulders. The object being processed is located with its front surface underneath the jig, while the router moves along the stop from above, removing excess in two passes.

The piece consists of two parallel base bars, a stopper and a stop - all made from wood of the same thickness as the piece, in this case from 25x75mm bars, and a top surface and support made from 18mm plywood.

The base bars should be approximately 400 mm long; cut out the top surface of plywood approximately 200 by 250 mm and screw it to the bars as shown in the figure. Screw the stopper onto the ends of the base bars along with the support. Place the stop approximately 25mm from the end of the top surface.

cut out the tenon using the device

Countersink holes for all screw heads and make sure all corners are square. Drill an inspection hole in the top surface to accurately position the workpiece exactly according to the markings.

Recommendations from experts on how to make a tenon using a hand router ensure convenient use of this tool in the production of furniture and load-bearing structures made from lumber. Elements of tables and chairs are assembled on spikes of a simple configuration. For the manufacture of cottage frames using half-timbering technology, spikes of complex configurations of increased reliability are used.

Figure 1. Schematic of the root tenon.

To create a tenon with a milling cutter, it is enough to secure the workpiece relative to the guide surface for the sole of the power tool, and set the required height of the working part - the cutter. Homemade devices from scrap materials significantly improve the quality of the tenon, the safety of work, and are convenient for mass production of identical elements or locking connections on workpieces of various sizes and configurations (Fig. 1).

Selection of power tools, cutters

A standard tenon is a double-sided sampling of wood from one edge of the workpiece. Any hand router with a 12 mm or 8 mm collet is suitable for this. A rectangular slot cutter is ideal for machining the two parts used in this connection:

• the side surface and the bottom end are necessary to create a groove;
• The tenon is made using a manual milling cutter using the end edge of the tool.

Figure 2. Diagram of a device for milling tenons.

Thus, having threaded the cutter once, the master gets rid of the need to reinstall the equipment, which is very convenient during construction and serial production of furniture.

The dovetail tenon is more reliable, durable, and to make it you will need a similar cutter with the same name. However, the adaptation in this case will be completely different. The manual tenon router is a universal tool and therefore does not need to be replaced. This type of power tool has comfortable side handles, a wide sole, and a spindle that is secured against turning when changing equipment. The overhang of the cutter at the moment of cutting cannot be changed due to the side stopper.

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Making a device for picking out a tenon

Unlike a professional machine, the working tool is not fixed in space. It is fed onto a stationary workpiece with both hands. Therefore, the manufacture of a device for clamping the part at the first stage is a justified necessity. The simplest device for this is a design (Fig. 2) of fixed guides (upper, lower, side) and a movable bar, which adjusts the length of the sample. To assemble it, you need to perform the following steps:

• fasten the side vertical elements of the same height with the central cutouts to a piece of plywood (along its edges);
• cover them with guides along which the router sole will move;
• install side bars, limiting the movement of the power tool along the upper guides;
• install a movable element on the bottom plywood that regulates the overhang of the edge of the workpiece that is being milled.

Figure 3. Scheme of tenon sampling.

To fix the movable bar, use a standard wing screw or special fasteners. The dimensions of all structural elements are selected individually:

• the height of the upper guides is equal to the thickness of the workpiece in which the tenon is made, taking into account a small gap for installing the fixing wedge;
• The width of the cutout in vertical elements depends on the length of the tenon created by a hand router.

A manual milling cutter of any modification, manufacturer, is suitable for working with this device, since most models provide adjustment of the cutting speed, feed, and reach of the working body.

For a dovetail tenon, a device with the opposite principle is used:

• a power tool is fixedly fixed in a sheet of plywood located horizontally;
• its body is located at the bottom, the cutter comes out from the back side of the sheet into a through hole;
• a block of hard wood (beech, birch, oak) is attached to the desktop;
• A 2.5 cm piece of board is attached to the block, which is a consumable material (used once with a certain cutter diameter).

Structurally, fixing a hand router in a sheet of multi-layer plywood can be solved with several options - clamps, self-tapping screws. It is important that the fasteners do not protrude onto the working side of the plywood. The sheet itself can be attached to a workbench, rest on a couple of chairs, or be fixed on several rows of timber, trestles, or scaffolding.

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Tenon selection: straight version, dovetail modification

Video 1 shows in detail how to make a tenon at home, making a simple device for one-time or mass production. The technology for working on the created device for a straight tenon is as follows:

• the part is placed on the lower supporting plane on the side opposite to the movable bar;
• the edge of the workpiece on which the tenon is milled is extended into the cutout of the upper guides until it stops at the movable element at the required distance (tenon length);
• the movable bar is fixed with a thumb or clamp;
• the workpiece is wedged with a special element between its upper plane and the upper guides;
• a manual router is placed on the upper guides;
• the lower end of the equipment removes wood from one side of the tenon;
• the workpiece is turned over, the operation is repeated for the other side of the tenon.

Dovetail connection diagram.

The technology provides high productivity for the same parts. Thanks to the device created once, you can make a tenon on parts of any configuration and size. The router is configured after installing it on the upper guides:

• the cutter is lowered all the way to the bottom plane of the plywood;
• the thickness of the part is measured;
• the equipment is raised to the required height (usually the thickness of the workpiece divided by 4).

Straight tenons for high-quality fixation in reciprocal grooves are usually connected with glue.

This ensures a long service life of the connection and prevents loosening of the load-bearing frame of buildings and structures during furniture operation (Fig. 3).

The choice of cutters for a dovetail connection is arbitrary; experts recommend a groove of approximately half the thickness of the part. A simple method for making a structure with this connection is shown in video 2. The sequence of operations is as follows:

• horizontal placement of a sheet of plywood with a manual router attached to the bottom;
• fixing one side of the guide bar with a screw (the consumable piece of the board is attached to the beam from the side of the cutting tool);
• installing the guide bar at the required distance from the center of the cutter and fixing its second edge to the plywood with a clamp (the width of the workpiece minus the diameter of the dovetail cutter in the wide part, divided in half);
• cutting the groove to the required length (width of the workpiece with a tenon);
• installing the guide beam at the required distance for removing the tenon (the clamp is removed, the cutter is cut into the consumable piece of the board so that the distance from its vertical plane to the center of the cutter is: the width of the part minus the width of the groove, divided in half);
• fastening the second side of the guide beam with a clamp;
• sampling the side surfaces of the workpiece.

After fitting the tenon into the groove, the thickness of the tenon is adjusted. It should fit into the mating groove without effort, with a small gap necessary to accommodate the adhesive. If necessary, the guide beam is shifted, and milling is repeated until this condition is met.

For a long time, a tongue-and-groove connection has been used in carpentry and carpentry. Ancient architects, using this method, managed to create unique wooden buildings without a single nail or screw. And although a wide variety of hardware is now quite accessible, the articulation of individual parts of various structures by this method not only has not lost its relevance, but is also widely used in modern products and materials.

The principle of connection and its varieties

In terms of design, all tongue-and-groove joints are made according to the same principle: a protrusion is made on one part, and a recess is made on the second. They are exactly the same in configuration and size. When these two parts are tightly joined, a strong technological unit is obtained. When building houses, such a connection prevents the shift of one part of the structure relative to another; in the manufacture of furniture, it significantly increases the area on which glue is applied, thereby providing additional strength to the product.

Based on the geometric shape of the protrusion and recess, such joints are divided into two main types:

• rectangular cross-section (sometimes with rounded edges of tenons and grooves);

• in the form of a trapezoid (also called a “dovetail”).

Based on the number of spikes and grooves that need to be made for one joint of parts, these connections are divided into:

• single-spike;
• multi-spike.

Important! Regardless of the number and geometric shape of the protrusions and recesses, they must be made only parallel to the grain of the wood.

Application area

The tongue-and-groove connection has found application in many areas of our daily life. For example, when arranging the floors of premises according to this principle, common coatings such as laminate, ordinary floorboards, chipboard, fiberboard or MDF boards are joined together.

Wood, as one of the most environmentally friendly materials, is used to make a wide variety of furniture (from a simple kitchen stool to a designer set for a living room or dining room), roller blinds, blinds and much more. And all these products are mainly made using a tongue-and-groove connection.

When constructing wooden frame buildings, houses made of timber, when arranging the beam-and-truss structure of the ceiling and roof, one also cannot do without arranging protrusions and recesses.

Beam connection

The tenon and groove in the beam connection is used both for arranging corner structures made of wood, and for longitudinal alignment of individual pieces. Depending on the cross-sectional dimensions and expected loads, the geometry and number of protrusions and lugs are selected. For example, in the construction of wooden houses, a single-tenon connection is mainly used. And to increase the length of small-section bars using glue, a multi-tenon method is used.

Connecting boards

Almost all owners of country real estate have long fallen in love with such a material as lining, as a result of which they obtain an absolutely flat vertical surface. The tongue and groove connection of boards is used for arranging floors, interior decoration of a house, as well as for external cladding of a building (with an antiseptic coating, of course).

The protrusions are tightly fixed in the recesses of adjacent boards, which prevents them from moving relative to each other. When arranging floors, the tight connection of tongue and groove boards with each other prevents them from moving in the vertical plane (the floor is level) and significantly increases the heat-saving properties of the coating (there are simply no gaps between the boards).

Using a manual electric router

Arrangement of tenon joints minimizes labor costs and significantly reduces the time for carpentry work. Of course, this useful tool will not help when building a house, for example, from timber with a cross-section of 150 x 150 mm, since there are no cutters of this size for a hand router, and the power of this unit will not be enough to install them. But if you want to build furniture, small frames or door frames yourself, then such a tool is simply necessary. Depending on the size of the parts to be joined and the geometric configuration of the connection, you purchase the necessary cutter, or maybe two (one for cutting the groove, the other for making a tenon). The milling tool's adjustment devices, as well as guide bearings (usually included with these cutters), will help create projections and recesses that match exactly in size and shape.

DIY tools and accessories

If you need to make some kind of piece of wood, then it is not economically profitable to purchase an expensive electric router. Most likely, everyone on the farm has the necessary set of tools, and if they have to buy more, it will be very few. In addition, additionally purchased devices may be useful in the future for minor repair work (for example, repairing wooden furniture). In order to make a tenon-groove joint with your own hands using only ordinary hand tools, you will need:

• wood hacksaw (fine teeth);
• carpenter's thicknesser (a special device for applying markings) or a regular construction square;

• Ruler and pencil;
• wood chisel.

Making your own corner joint

As an example, let's look at how to make a tongue-and-groove connection between two bars of the same cross-section at right angles using available tools. Let's say you need to connect 60 x 60 mm (they may well be suitable for making window frames for a summer house).

The thickness of the protrusion for a single-tenon connection (in accordance with the recommendations of handbooks on carpentry) should be ⅓÷⅜ of the thickness of the block (in your case it will be 20 mm). The length of the tenon will be equal to the thickness of the block (60 mm). The dimensions of the recess must correspond to the dimensions of the tenon, so that it fits into the eye with force.

Attention! Tenons must be installed on the vertical parts of the wooden structure, and grooves on the horizontal ones.

The algorithm for performing the work is quite simple:

• First, we mark the future protrusions and eyes. If you do not pay due attention to this process, the manufactured tenons and grooves may not match each other in size or relative position. There is also a danger that they will not fit into each other tightly. All this will significantly reduce the strength and reliability of the connection.
• Using a thicknesser (or square) at a distance of 60 mm from the end, draw a line on all four sides of both bars.
• Then, on two opposite sides and at the end, we draw two parallel lines at a distance of 20 mm from each other.

• Using a hacksaw, we make cuts along the marking lines to the transverse line, that is, to a depth of 60 mm.

On a note! To ensure that the thickness of the cut (approximately equal to the setting of the teeth of the cutting blade of the hacksaw) does not affect the accuracy of making the joint, we install the saw blade on the outside (when making a tenon) or on the inside (when making a groove).

• At the end of the block with a protrusion, we saw off the outer pieces of wood.
• Using a chisel, carefully hollow out the inside of the recess.

• We insert the tenon into the groove and check the made connection. If necessary, remove protruding defects with a chisel.

Finally

If you need to arrange a tenon and groove yourself, it is best to practice on scraps of bars.

If the manufactured protrusions and recesses coincide exactly, and the articulation of the individual parts is strong, then you can begin work on the prepared building material. Well, if the tenon fits into the groove too freely, or vice versa, then you need to once again check the correctness of the markings, conduct another training session, and only after that proceed with the implementation of the planned project.