I’m in the middle of replacing the entranceway in my Victorian era home (door, sidelights, transom). I’ve just about finished making the parts and am ready for assembly. My question concerns whether to use glue in holding the mortise-and-tenons, helf-laps etc, together, or whether I should just rely on mechanical fasteners (nails, screws, dowels). The reason I ask is that when I was replacing some of the original window sashes last year I noticed that they were simply held together with dowels and no glue.
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I'm not much help with fine joinery..........
but, have worked on plenty of places from the turn of that way back century on. Many sash had either dowels or a pin (nail) across the joint evidently to keep it from spreading.
I rely on glue (mostly Titebond III ) and fasteners in all my assemblies, but these are usually trim joints.
I've always wondered about this. In some cases sashes and the like are designed to be able to be taken apart for glass replacement, etc. And certainly the glues available even 50 years ago were not particularly weather-resistant. (In fact, what was a glued joint 50 years ago may have no sign of glue now.)
But one wonders if there is some advantage to having the joint be able to "give" a little.