Log seat leg join help

[RedShirtGuy]

I thought I'd knock up a few outdoor bench seats from some Yellow Box milling scraps (the round edges).

The plan was to use wedged tenons (sanded flush on top) for attaching the legs which are splayed outwards slightly and have no stretcher between them. The approx thicknesses of both the seat and legs is 70mm, the width of the bench is 1140mm and about 360mm deep (front to back).

I was considering notching the legs slightly (only 10-15mm) into the bottom of the seat to hide the join on the underside a little better. I doubt that such a shallow notch would offer much additional lateral support and is purely for aesthetic reasons.

My question is, providing all the above is ok too, whether to cut the mortises and tenons vertically or have them follow the angle of the legs.

(The attachment shows the end view, and the two leg options viewed from the front)

EDIT: I'd rather not, but if I really must, I can put a stretcher in and would use wedged/pinned through tenons to hold it.

Cheers.

[Lplates]

Hi,

I've used the vertical method before for a stool but mine had a 'stretcher' arrangement holding the legs together lower down so the forces really aren't comparable. I'm not sure there will be a lot of difference between the two methods though since lateral forces are still the same. I would go for the vertical myself since it's far easier to cut and mark out. Given the size of the bench it's probably not going to be an issue either way, just keep the angle low and you should be fine.

Good luck.