u/Apprehensive-Ad-3513 — reddlx

Hello all,

I finally received all the bits and bobs to start hand cutting tongue and groove joinery with my new lil Veritas Plow! Exciting stuff.

However, I can’t find a huge amount of info regarding cutting tongue and groove. Specifically, I’m cutting the bottom for my anarchist’s toolchest out of cherry, and I’m unsure of how much room to leave for expansion.

In the video course I’m following, they mention using a dime to space the shoulders when nailing in the boards, but I’m not sure if that still applies when you’re cutting your own? (They were using car siding).

I also can not find a consistent verdict on glueing the joint. It would seem to me to defeat the purpose, but I had found some recommendations to glue the tongue into the groove.

Can you kind folks shed some light on the subject for me?

Thanks!