Thread: Dining Room Table

I've done this a fair bit. Its one of those things that seems difficult but was easier then it looks. Hand cut mortise and tenon.

Tenon
Obviously the shoulders of the tenon need to be sloping - just use an adjustable square to get the angle right against the leg, then transfer it to the rails. Other then the slope of the shoulder, you're just making a standard tenon.

Mortise
Where the rails meet the legs, you will have to square off a portion of the edge of the leg so that it presents a flat face to the rail. I just use a tenon saw and chisel for this, but keep in mind that the top and bottom of the cutout, though small, need to slope at 10 degrees. If you want the joint tight and gap free, make the cutout a tiny bit small and plane a bit off the bottom of the rail to fit. Then drill the mortise and finish off with a chisel, not forgetting that the holes you drill should also slope at 10degrees. You could consider using a jig to get the initial drilling of the mortise at the correct angle (I'm assuming you do mortises by drilling holes and then squaring up with a chisel).

Go slow, and cut carefully - 'sneaking up to the edge'. You will need to trial fit a lot, but trial fitting tends to loosen an m&t joint so you need to balance the need to get the angles right and the joints 'gap free' with the need to keep the joint tight and crisp.

cheers
Arron