Breadboard ends are easier than you think!

[@twobitwoodworker]

You can save a ton of wear and tear on your router bit if you only use it over your tenons and stub tenon. The rest you're going to cut off anyway, so just leave it at full thickness. It's less work and easier to balance the router. The only other tip I have is the offset for the drawbore, unless it's pine 1/32" is plenty. I've had pegs jam on me, or break, and even had the underside of the breadboard break off when hammering a 1/16" drawbore home. Longer pegs with long tapers help, but 1/32" is more than enough. Thanks for sharing.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Very solid point about removing the tenon waste first!

[@adamqp]

That tip to make the pin holes back a 1/16" is really great, thanks!

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Yeah that's the real secret sauce to the draw bore!

[@seanpatterson1609]

Thanks for the longer video. These are a nice pace for learning this activity for me.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Thank you for the feedback. We are trying to make these as high value as possible.

[@ChapmanWW]

Very detailed but easy to follow video. Glad you've found your passion in life Mike.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

That was the goal! Glad to hear we attained it! Thank you!

[@AndyBirdBuilds]

I love the look too! Thanks for sharing your process.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

They are really pretty for sure!

[@matttaylor4498]

Looks so clean. Very descriptive thank you.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Thank you for watching!

[@orrinkelso9295]

Just how I do mine. I like how you use your measuring tools. I also put a "V" groove on the side where the bread board end meets the table because the end is going to become uneven with the rest of the top when the table expands and contracts with seasonal movement.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Good tip!

[@richardh6964]

Great video. One thing I leaned the hard way was consider where you want the expansion and contraction to occur when you are making the slots for the dowels. In this case where it’s a table you sit at from both sides I would do it as you showed but if it’s a piece intended to go against a wall I would put the fixed hole on the front of the top and slot the middle and back one so the top moves on the back where you don’t see. I found this is especially important when you have molded edges as the movement will be very visible when looking at the top.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Great advice!

[@kjburke58]

I really like to find out what this table looks like a year down the road how the breadboards really work because I sure like the way they look and it makes a lot of sense the way it’s done done

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

There are examples of tables that were made hundreds of years ago that are still alive and kicking with this joinery.

[@9000ryguy]

Thanks for not using the domino. Most people don't have a 1500 domino laying around that they wanna use for their hobby, me included. But I also don't have a mortiser around either. That is the part of this process that is still intimidating to me. I did just put some breadboard ends on that I am hoping turn out well. I used a router table to try to do the mortise and it was kind of tricky. But we'll see! I've heard that the breadboard ends don't really function as a way to keep the table flat but mostly are there for asthetic. Maybe its a bit of both.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

They absolutely keep the table flat. That’s why the joinery method was invented. I’d recommend doing the mortises on the drill press in the future.

[@TwoMooseDesign]

Great video! Tons of info

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

It's chock full of info!

[@fantinwoodworking]

Great video - I love making breadboard ends too for a slightly different application, but typically with dominos, but I think this way makes it more stable due to the larger tenons and the stub tenon.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

I think the big deficit comes from the stub tenon honestly.

[@michiganmoto7687]

@@CoffeyCustomBuilds deficit or benefit? The mortise and tenon with the long stub tenon is far more stable (and stronger) than dominoes. Plus using dominoes require glueing the entire length of the breadboard not allowing for seasonal movement. There is a reason why we have antique tables that are 200+ years old and modern tables of today won’t be around in 100 years. ✌️

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

@@michiganmoto7687 the deficit meaning that the domino doesn't have a stub tenon

[@bigskymaker]

🔥great video mike! Like how you left the breadboard ends long so you could take it off easily. Beautiful table!

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Thank you! Makes for easy clean up!

[@baileythompson3680]

Excellent information, really enjoyed it.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Thank you for watching!

[@stockbilt6125]

Beautiful work man

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Thanks brother!

[@CoreyD76]

Looks great Mike!

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Appreciate it!

[@thomaszaccone3960]

Awesome. Thank you!

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Glad you liked it!

[@shanebrooks2013]

Nice work!

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@DsHardWoodCreations]

Great video mike

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Thank you 🙏🏼

[@billballeza377]

Oh, yeah. That’s a whole lot easier than I thought.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Once you see it all laid out it's not bad!

[@tiananman]

Keeping that end material on the breadboard instead of having the tenon show through helps keep the breadboard from warping and pulling up away from the tenon.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Definitely

[@dougschriefer3076]

Mike, great video I love the artistic style. A few questions: Do you think there would be any benefit from drilling the holes at each end of the cut to prevent the end of the tenon from wanting to split with lateral movement? I think I had heard that once, but not sure if it's just in my head or not. I am assuming you said it and I just missed it in the video when you ran the 1/2" groove on the router table you were using a smaller bit, and running it in both directions to center it? I am assuming this is preferred over milling your lumber to the thickness of your bit?

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Yeah I make the joinery around the wood thickness I have. I don't make the thickness around the tooling typically.

[@cdalekeefe]

Great video very informative. With the dowel pins, did you go all the way through underneath or is the hole only through the top portion of the breadboard?

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

I go all the way through. I prefer that look

[@VinceEspositoJr]

Looks good. I'm a big fan of ash. On the end dowels, I understand not gluing them into the tenons, but do you at least glue them into one or both sides of the breadboard edge so they don't slide out of flush? Thanks.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

I definitely did glue them into place.

[@dajur1]

When making a table with a leaf, should you do bread boards on the inside as well?

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

I wouldn't personally. I would change the grain orientation of the leaf for sure.

[@laurasiniawski226]

Love a breadboard end 🤩. The table is beautiful! Love the tip of moving the holes in 1/16” to pull the board in tight! Is that Rubio cotton white on the top? And do you typically get dowels somewhere close to you or order them online? (I have only found them at the orange store locally… so wood species is never what I’m looking for.)

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

That was Rubio white. No cotton was harmed. I get them from one of my hardwood dealers but Amazon is actually good for them.

[@laurasiniawski226]

@@CoffeyCustomBuilds thanks! 😊

[@Heidisadventuresinwonderland]

At the end, you said that the finish was applied to table. The wood looks largely unchanged, what finish did you use? It’s beautiful.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Thank you! The top got Rubio Monocoat white and the bottom got Rubio Monocoat Intense Black pre color followed by Rubio Monocoat Black.

[@khalidhemeda2311]

Thanks 💐

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Thank you

[@ryand5875]

Why just three tenons? Is three enough? Currently building my dining room table and am about to start my breadboard ends. The table is 42" wide with 7, 6" planks glued up.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

They're huge tenon's. They're plenty.

[@BillWanamaker]

Great video! Question: do you glue the pins on the sides? Or are they just held in place by the nature of the draw bore?

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

I did do a dab of glue. However, I think that's overkill.

[@ronnenarmon7666]

Great tutorial and great outcome! One question: if I’m making the table in summer or in winter should I take into consideration the Final Cut of the breadboard length? Thanks!

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Yes definitely

[@pepperman9]

Don't route backwards. Use a featherboard as well. Center tenon does not need ¼" expansion relief but won't hurt, it is the secure point all expansion will depart from. Half that amount is fine. When setting depth with router for ½" cheek cut of breadboard, use a playing card or two layers of blue tape to allow sneak up room for tight fit when placing in tenon. After driving dowels and they're set, place tape or playing card on table surface to flush cut them and sneak up with plane , chisel or sandpaper; this prevents any teeth marks from the top surface during flush cutting. Otherwise spot in instruction.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Thanks for the review

[@ColinForBooks]

were the dowels also ash? if you purchased dowels, would you need to buy ash ones or any hardwood?

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

I would stick with ash for sure. They were ash on here too.

[@christophermcmullen5693]

Why didn’t you use non round pegs? I have heard that a peg with edges holds better. But I am new to woodworking.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

I've never heard of this nor seen this done. Doesn't mean it can't work but I don't see the advantage.

[@jamescanning7137]

Using the glued-up top as the reference surface for milling the tenons implies that it's truly flat. How to do get a top that large to be that flat?

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

With proper milling techniques.

[@bigwillysgarage2301]

Great content mister Coffey do u have a patreon ? 😊

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Thank you! I appreciate the question. I think I want to hold of until the channel has 25k subs.

[@bigwillysgarage2301]

We’ll keep it up you will be there in no time bud

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

@@bigwillysgarage2301 here's to hoping!

[@TheJelac]

What if I wanna make mortise and tenon along the entire side of table? Will it work? I mean, one big joint.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

One big tenon?

[@TheJelac]

@@CoffeyCustomBuilds yea, one big tenon. I don't have a tool to drill deeper holes. I can cut a groove on the table saw that will be the entire length of the board, but I can't get a deeper groove-shallow groove-deeper groove...

[@thenext9537]

What's not shown is taking the rule, measuring it, then realizing the other end is off now. Then measuring that end, and realizing that the OTHER end is now off. Rinse and repeat a half dozen times (or more) and you get your final take. Track saws it seems, you have to lift up the end to get the other piece on a corner rather than the width and you can move it reliably. Otherwise, it's back and forth time ftw.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

This is correct 😂

[@dave_ecclectic]

*These are breadboard ends or breadboard joints.* I would like to point out some people change a joint to the extent that it no longer is that joint. A method using dominoes has been spreading on the web proclaiming this to be an easy or trick way to make this joint has begun to confuse people. So, on my mighty stead I ride. I find that many people are calling this Dominoe method of producing a Breadboard joint as an easy or trick method, should realize that this isn't a breadboard joint (or breadboard end) anymore. This is one reason it is easier since it isn't the joint anymore. This is a specific kind of joint and using dominoes has varied so far from this joint as to not be this joint anymore. I would also challenge those who think that it is, to consider if one made in the same way with dowels would still be a breadboard joint or if the dowels were totally eliminated and used a butt joint was still a breadboard end. It isn't the application of a board across the grain which produces this joint but the method of joinery, and the reason for doing this joinery in the first place.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Not sure if you watched but I did it correctly and didn't use a domino

[@dave_ecclectic]

@@CoffeyCustomBuilds Yes, you did do it correctly and also showed it isn't all that difficult to actually produce the joint rather than reduce it to a small number of tiny pegs. I didn't say that yours were not. I bolded and isolated my first line to hopefully eliminate confusion.

[@hjeffwallace]

Good job. I wish you used ear protection. My brother can’t hear his kids due to tools and hunting without ear protection. He thinks it doesn’t matter because it’s too late to hurt him. The opposite is true. Damaged ears are more vulnerable.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

I wear ear protection all day. Just not in the incredibly short amount of shots you see in the video. Thank you for the concern though!

[@nicksantoyo7685]

easier than you think with $10,000 worth of equipment :)

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

$10,000 minimum

[@DougAlcoe]

Love the content. Do not like the camera work. Please buy your camera guy a tripod or at least a stabilizer.

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

Can you shoot me an affiliate link for a good tripod?

[@vibrationNC]

I have a question.. Would you come to my little shed and help me make mine??? Louisville, KY ;-)

[@CoffeyCustomBuilds]

I'll do it for money 🤣

[@vibrationNC]

@@CoffeyCustomBuilds How about some beers and good music?