The difference between LVL and traditional ply is that the plys in LVLs are not placed on bias to each other. The grain all runs in the same direction basically. Because the veneer is rotary cut, it still has more potential for tearing out than lumber, but you are not dealing w/ endgrain milling like you would when edging baltic birch plywood. The endgrain is the reason that your jointer blades are trashed after running the plywood over it.

In theory the glue content in the LVL is going to be more abrasive than just wood, but as to how much more abrasive, I don’t know that anyone would be able to speak empirically on the subject.

I haven’t done the experiments, but the stuff you mention about tenons makes little sense to me. I always thought the main strength of the Mm&T came from the long grain bond between the tenon cheeks and the sides of the mortise. All the other mating surfaces are end grain to long grain, and as such, much less strong.

YMMV

James

As you can see from this, I found a most enlightening discussion of gluing and the difficulties thereof in J E Gordon’s book The New Science of Strong Materials. That book and the companion (Structures) are worth reading in their own right but the insight on gluing is very useful.
Most of the strength of a glue joint is at its edges – the stuff in between is a passenger that contributes nothing except weight. Some runout is better than a starved joint if that means that you have a bead of glue along the whole of the outside lines of the joint. Sometimes this is going to be hard to achieve but think of a mortice and tenon joint. The ideal is to get a thin but complete glue line along:
1. the 4 longitudinal corners of the tenon where they meet with the corners of the mortice and
2. the four outside corners of the shoulders of the tenon where it meets with the face into which the mortice has been cut.

The first is easy – spread glue on the 4 inside corners of the mortice (no need to go all the way to the bottom) and the longitudinal corner edges of the tenon. For the second, I find it best to put glue on the 4 tenon shoulders. You can be a bit more generous on the tenon edges and in the mortice than on the shoulders – you should push any surplus to the bottom where it will do no harm. Be more careful on the shoulders and try to get more of the glue on the outside of the shoulders than the inside to reduce squeeze out while still getting a complete bead of glue along the outside of the shoulder/face joint.

I hope you get all these issues that keep you bound up out of your system before you start work on your Chinese stool again.

Have you tried a good dim sum?

regards,
Dave

I thought that was a useful tip.