Breadboard Ends Done Right

This traditional method for concealing end grain relies on a hidden trick to work properly. Find out the “hole” story behind breadboard ends with this time-tested method.

Adding breadboard ends certainly dresses up a project whether it’s a cutting board or a tabletop. A tongue on the panel fits into the grooved end cap, neatly concealing the panel’s end grain. But because the wood grain of the two pieces runs perpendicular, the panel’s side-to-side expansion far exceeds the longitudinal expansion of the cap. Try gluing the joint and this wood movement will inevitably break the glue bond, cause splits in the main panel, or cracks in the breadboard end cap.

The solution you’ll learn here uses drawbore pegs to hold the cap tightly against the shoulders of the tenon. But what you don’t see is that the outer pegs pass through slots cut in the panel’s tenon, allowing the pegs to maintain their grip, even as the panel expands and contracts.

We’ll show you how to…