In reading Christopher Schwartz's new workbench book, he is constantly arguing the merits of drawboring for mortise and tenon joints.
A recent woodworking magazine joint test, however, highlighted for me the fact that drawbored mortise and tenon joints all failed at the bore/pin and all failed before an equivalent non-drawbored joint. This also correlates with two old pieces of furniture with failed joints that I repaired -- either the mortise split at the hole, or the portion of the tenon behind the bore separated and released the joint. Granted, in these "old" cases, the glue failed, in which case a non-drawbored joint would also come apart.
Granted, drawboring has the immediate benefit of self-clamping and of drawing the joint tight initially. Does anyone else wonder if the cost in weakening the joint might not outweigh the short-term initial benefits of drawboring, or have any counter arguments?