Tenon

A tenon is a tongue on the end of a part that fits into a mortise. The part length includes the tenon.

Tenon. Drawn by the editor's own geometry code; right: the carved part in 3D.

When to use it

Use a tenon on a rail, stretcher or brace that joins into a post or leg. Put a mortise of the same size on the other part.

Fields

Field	Unit	Range or options	Default	What it changes
End		Start, End	Start	The part end that gets the tenon.
Shoulder (x)	mm	from 0	40	Where the shoulder sits, measured from the chosen end.
Centre Y	mm	from 0	60	Centre line of the tenon across the face.
Height	mm	from 1	40	Height of the tenon.
Width	mm	from 1	Full width	Width of the tenon. Unset means the full width of the part.
Face		Top, Bottom, Front, Back	Back	The side of the part the processing is on.
Stands out	mm	from 1	To the end	How far the tongue stands out of the shoulder. Empty means to the end of the part.
Off the middle	mm		In the middle	Moves a tenon with a width off the middle of the part. Empty means in the middle. Shown only for some settings of the other fields.
Second tongue	mm		One tongue
Inclination	°	0.1 to 179.9	Square (90°)	Leans the shoulder, as on a brace or a rafter. 90° is square.
Angle	°	0.1 to 179.9	Square (90°)	Turns the shoulder in the face. 90° is square.
Tongue turned	°	0.1 to 179.9	Square (90°)	Turns the tongue about its own axis. 90° is square.
End shape		Automatic, Square, Round, Rounded, Radius	Automatic	Shape of the tenon ends.
Radius	mm	from 1	Automatic	Corner radius, for end shapes that use one. Shown only for some settings of the other fields.
Length allowance	mm	from 0	No allowance	Hundegger machining allowance. A format without an allowance field, such as BTLx, drops it with a notice.
Width allowance	mm	from 0	No allowance	Hundegger machining allowance. A format without an allowance field, such as BTLx, drops it with a notice.

Default: what Add fills in on a 3000 mm part of 120 x 120 mm.

Add a tenon

Select the part in the Parts list.
Under Extra processings, click Add.
Type tenon in the search field and pick Tenon.
Set End, Face, Shoulder (x) and Centre Y.
Set Height, and Width if the tenon is narrower than the part. Pick the End shape.
Check that the part shows a green check. If not, open the Issues tab.

A tenon at an angle

A brace or a rafter meets its post at an angle, so its shoulder leans. Pick Angled tenon in the Add list for a tenon whose shoulder leans 45°, or lean any tenon yourself.

The card shows the tenon From the side and On the face as you change it. Under Lean / turn, Shoulder lean leans the shoulder, with quick picks for 0°, 15°, 30° and 45°; Turn in the face turns its line on the face, and Tongue turned turns the tongue about its own axis. All three are measured from square, so 0° is a square tenon, and Make square puts it back. The tongue always stands square to the shoulder, straight into its mortise. Under Size / shape, Stands out stops the tongue short of the end of the part, and Off the middle moves a tongue narrower than the part toward one face. All values shows the same angles the way BTLx writes them, where 90° is square.

You can drag instead. In the drawing and in 3D, the knob at the far end of the dashed shoulder line leans the shoulder, the knob on the face turns it, and the square moves the shoulder along the part. Hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) to leave the steps.

A tongue that leaves the section of the part at its angle gets a warning, so make it smaller, move it or lean it less. A designed joint does the same at the end of a member that arrives at an angle: the Housed tenon template puts the tongue square to the other member’s face, with its mortise square to that face too.

A shoulder that leans both ways, and a tongue turned about its axis, need a five-axis head, such as on a Hundegger ROBOT-Drive or K2: the card labels them Specialised machine (which machine can cut it). BTLx writes every tenon at an angle. BVX writes a shoulder that only leans, as a brace’s does, in the form the shop’s own files use, with a note to check the first part until the shop confirms it; every other angle, and every tenon at an angle in BVN, goes into the shop test pack only for now. A BVX file’s own tenons open as tenons you can edit.

Two tongues

A thick rail into a wide post often takes two tongues instead of one: a double tenon. Set Second tongue to how far the middle of the second tongue lies from the first, up or down the face: 80 mm puts it 80 mm toward a larger Centre Y, -80 mm the other way. Both tongues have the same height, width, end shape and stand-out, and they come from one shoulder, so leave wood between them: they must lie further apart than a tongue is high. The card’s face drawing shows both. Put two mortises on the post.

BVX writes a double tenon in the shop test pack only for now. BVN, BTLx and BTL have no element for it, so the export leaves it out with a note on the part and it is finished by hand. A double tenon cannot sit in a housing.

Housing

Enable Housing for a wider shoulder block and its matching recess. Set its length, width, depth and corner shape; 10 and 15 mm are quick depth picks. The tongue starts after the housing, and a mortise or socket runs on from its floor. Its depth is additional to the housing depth. Keep the tongue inside the housing and the complete cut inside the timber. Drag the housing depth handle in the drawing or in 3D.

BTLx carries the two cuts together as House or HouseMortise. BVX and BVN housing mappings are experimental: the export includes them with a warning and a preview, and Leave out removes the complete housed joint. BTL carries linked 052/053 housings with a specification caveat. BVN preserves imported 0506 and 17xx forms whose placement has not been confirmed. The existing Housed tenon joint keeps its full-width housing; Narrow housed tenon, Vertical housed dovetail and Horizontal housed dovetail bind the housing dimensions on both halves.

Machine export

Format	Status	Details
BTLx	Partly supported	Tenon, square or at any angle: its shoulder leaning, turned in the face, its tongue turned, off the middle or cut short. Allowances are left out, with a warning. Housing uses House with a nested Tenon.
BVN (Hundegger)	Partly supported	Operation 0500, with a corner radius above 10 mm. Allowances are not supported. Experimental, included with a warning unless you leave them out: a tenon at an angle (0500 with its lean, 0501 turned in the face). A housed shoulder uses experimental 0506 plus its tongue; compound housing is refused.
BVX2 (Hundegger)	Partly supported	Tenon, square or round corners, with allowances. A tenon leaning in its length section, as a brace's, with a warning in the file, in the form of the shop's own files, which read back as tenons. Other angles experimental, included with a warning unless you leave them out. Housing uses experimental House plus the raised Tenon.
BTL 10.6	Partly supported	050 tenons with inclination, rotation, shapes and margins; housed forms use linked 052. Allowances are omitted.
Machine	Specialised machine	A shoulder leaning both ways, or a tongue turned about its own axis, needs a five-axis head, such as on a Hundegger ROBOT-Drive or K2. A shoulder leaning one way any machine cuts. Which machine can cut it.

BTL status describes what the specification can represent. CAMBIUM imported our earlier BTL test files; confirmation applies to the tested forms and build. See BTL coverage for representation and receiver caveats.

Controls

Place and size precede lean, housing and All values. Blue handles and picks follow the same measurements as the fields.