Thread: Crossed tenons for table legs

I have a table similar which was a wedding gift to my parents back in 1955.

It is quite flimsy (ply construction etc), but suitable for what it is.

It is however on wheels which negates any stresses being put on the joints by being dragged around. Is this an option?

I can't say I've built or even seen a table with that type of joint, but I believe you're quite right to be concerned. (Oddly enough I have repaired a shelving unit with similar joints. But different orientation, different forces == different kettle of fish.)

For that joint to have any lateral strength against racking, every face would have to be glued. Not just tenon to mortise faces, but the overlaps between tenons. That be a messy job to glue up, it'd also be a downright pita to clean up the voids once glued!

Any racking forces could be ameliorated by placing rails down low between the legs to bear the brunt... but that's often difficult to do sympathetically to the original concept, if not nigh impossible.

I think that personally I'd stop the mortises short of the top, with haunched tenons, and use a short offcut of square tubing (brass, darkened iron, etc.) to collar the top end of the leg. With suitable overhang of the top, these collars shouldn't normally be seen, except when actually folding the table. With the tops of the legs being "solid" it'd also give you faces in the end-grain to fix rubber stoppers for that little bit o' extra detail.

I can't see anything wrong with building the skirts as a box using finger joints that project. It should be quite strong. Connecting the legs to the projecting fingers will be the tricky part. I think I would want to add something other than just face glue to the four thin pieces making up each leg. Depending on how they join at the bottom a fixing through the top finger might be all the extra needed to clamp the leg pieces in place?

Originally Posted by cava

I have a table similar which was a wedding gift to my parents back in 1955.

It is quite flimsy (ply construction etc), but suitable for what it is.

It is however on wheels which negates any stresses being put on the joints by being dragged around. Is this an option?

No ... I think that the client will not appreciate the wheels...

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful replies

After reading them, I am starting to think of the project in a different way

The crossed finger joints are there to provide both strength and a decorative effect (the end grain parts)... But achieving the decorative effect make the joints much harder to construct and possibly weaker.

The most important thing is for those joints to be strong and square... So why not achieve that with a tried and true joint and achieve the decorative effect somehow else?

I am now thinking of using good old haunched (mitred?) tenons, with the apron a bit offset toward the outside so that the tenons can be as long as possible, and the joint very strong.

For a decorative effect I am thinking about 2 mm Jarrah or Blackwood inlays (the legs are ash), perhaps as long wedges/rays running half way down the legs...

Maybe I'll post the result... Thanks again

Jorge