Christopher Crockett May 1, 2017:

Technically, this kind of assembly might qualify as a "friction fit" --one in which nothing else is used save bringing the two elements together with enough force so that they "stick" to each other.

This page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interference_fit

notes that heat can sometimes be used to expand one or the other element, which might make the forced joint even stronger.

I certainly wouldn't put it past those crafty Egyptian metalworkers to have heated the mortise enough so that it might have gripped the tang even more tightly as it shrunk up when it cooled.

However, I would not use "friction fit" to describe what's going on here --Bénéditi doesn't use that term (I think he essentially just means a "very, very tight fit"), and it is technical enough that it might not be known to a wider audience.

Christopher Crockett Apr 27, 2017:

no quoins, please I'm a big fan of using technical terms (probably to a fault), even if they are rather obscure and unknown to the general reader; often they are the only way to convey what is meant.

And the venerable OED does, indeed, list some meanings for "quoin" as near synonyms for "wedge" --all specific to fields unrelated to that of 2k mirrors and most termed "rare" and/or "obs[cure]":

2.
a. Printing. A (typically wedge-shaped) device used to lock up a forme of type. Now chiefly hist.
b. Gunnery. A wedge-shaped block used for adjusting the elevation of the barrel of a cannon. Also: a wedge used to keep a cannon securely in position (cf. quoiner n.). Now chiefly hist.
c. Naut. A wedge placed between or among casks stored on a ship, so as to prevent them from moving. Now rare.
†d. Building. The keystone, or any one of the wedge-shaped stones, of an arch; = voussoir n. Obs. rare. [N.b. I've never seen this usage in the art historical literature.]

Looking at the picture of the object in question, anyone would say that the tang was firmly held in the mortise by "wedges" --so why not just use that common (yet precise) term?

mrrafe Apr 27, 2017:

forcing/shoving And I think forcing, not shoving. Shoving seems more of a full-body action.

mrrafe Apr 27, 2017:

tightly with quoins Hermetically strongly connotes watertight or airtight, which I don't think is the point here. I would use one of spielenschach's alternatives, assemble tightly (adverb, not tight). Instead of wedges, the more technical term if you want it is (Eng) quoins, not (Fr.) coins. For smoothing of Item 2, could simply remove the first two commas, and add just a comma in place of [+achieved]. Seems very nice.