Skip to content
Woodworking Masterclasses
Facebook Instagram
  • Register Now
  • Video Library
  • GalleryExpand
    • Bedside Cabinet GalleryExpand
      • Assembly Table Gallery
      • Bathroom Cabinet Gallery
      • Bench Stool Gallery
      • Blanket Chest Gallery
      • Bookends Gallery
      • Book Shelves Gallery
      • Breadboard-end Cutting Board Gallery
      • Carrying Tote Gallery
      • Chess Board Gallery
      • Chest of Drawers Gallery
      • Christmas Gallery
      • Coasters Gallery
      • Coat Rack Gallery
      • Coffee Table Gallery
      • Corner Shelf Gallery
      • Craftsman-style Lamp Gallery
      • Dining Chair Gallery
      • Dovetail Boxes Gallery
      • Fly Swat Gallery
      • Frame Saw Gallery
    • Foot Stool GalleryExpand
      • How to Make a Table
      • Joiner’s Mallet Gallery
      • Joiners’ Toolbox Gallery
      • Keepsake Box Gallery
      • Laptop Desk Gallery
      • Leaning Wall Shelf Gallery
      • Mitre Box Gallery
      • Occasional Table Gallery
      • Picture Frames Gallery
      • Rocking Chair
      • Sawhorse Gallery
      • Shaker-Style Bench Seat Gallery
      • Shaker Stool Gallery
      • Sofa Table Gallery
      • Stepladder Gallery
    • Trestle TableExpand
      • Tool Cabinet
      • Tool Chest Gallery
      • Walking Cane Gallery
      • Wall Brackets Gallery
      • Wallclock Gallery
      • Wall Shelf Gallery
      • Winding Sticks Gallery
      • Wooden Plane Gallery
      • Wooden Spokeshave
      • Wooden Tray Gallery
      • Workbench Gallery
      • Other user projects vol. I
      • Other user projects vol. II
      • Submit Photos to Gallery
  • About Us
  • News
  • FAQsExpand
    • General FAQs
    • Workbench FAQs
  • Contact
Account Login
Woodworking Masterclasses

Table rail joints advice please.

Search
Previous Back to: Woodworking Methods and Techniques3 Replies

Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Woodworking Methods and Techniques / Table rail joints advice please.

  • This topic has 3 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 10 months ago by jeff Fisher.
  • Author
    Posts
  • mark edsforth
    27 January 2021 at 1:09 pm #698768

    Hello,

    I am just about to build a kitchen table. The wood is all 50mm square.

    Just wondering the best way to do the tenons for the rails and legs? Do I keep the tenons centred or can I offset them or overlap them.

    I attach a drawing to show the options and would welcome any thoughts,

    Thanks,

    Mark

    Settings
    mark edsforth
    27 January 2021 at 1:11 pm #698769

    Sorry, here’s the drawing

    Kitchen-Island-3

    Settings
    Ken Kilby
    27 January 2021 at 2:51 pm #698784

    I would offset them. You can put a miter on the ends of the tenons to give a little more glue surface.

    Settings
    jeff Fisher
    20 May 2021 at 5:59 pm #714013

    I think you can put them where you want, but there are constraints to think about and layouts proven through history.

    Be sure you are leaving enough wood in the leg. Too many mortises or too big or too close together and you can end up with a leg that is weak at the place it needs to be most strong. Think about how big the parts of the leg you are leaving are. Top two sketches look ok to me on that.

    I wouldn’t count on a wall between two mortises less than 1/4 inch thick surviving my mortise chiseling. Thinner and I’m too likely to blow through. Also little strength in that thin wall. Bottom sketch may have a problem with this.

    You want most of the width of your rail to go into the leg so it resists twisting and wracking better, but it doesnt necessarily all have to go full depth. The bottom sketch seems weaker in this way. The ‘normal’ way is more like your top two sketches. In the bottom sketch the rail who’s face is toward us is only joined to the leg at its bottom edge, so it is only as strong as that tenon against the leg being bent toward the center of the rail or twisted around the axis of the rail (the twist bit probably isnt’ super important, but bending the leg toward the middle is).

    Shoulders on the rail hide the mortis cut of course, so you usually want them at least on show faces.

    The traditional rules of thumb would say make your mortis width at most 1/3 of the leg, 5/8ths of an inch in a 2 inch leg. I don’t have a 5/8ths chisel so I’d go 1/2. I’d leave a shoulder at the bottom of 1/8th to hide the joint and at least 1/2 at the top (maybe a bit more for a dining table?) so the leg doesn’t split super easily at the top and leave a ‘horn’ of extra leg at the top until after the mortises are cut and the tenons fit (chopping mortises and fitting the tenon are very risky for splitting that thin end). Where the mortis and tenon go in the leg and rail would depend on how I wanted the rail face to align with the leg face. On a dining table I think I would keep the mortis at least 1/2 inch from the leg face, for strength.

    Highly reccomend taking some scraps or overlong parts and doing a test joint. My legs had enough length for me to cut one mortis off on each one and my first attempt was indeed pretty shabby (I ended up not using the first or second attempts, though I would have used the second rather than buy another leg).

    Settings
  • Author
    Posts
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Log In

Security and Payments

Payments on this site are processed using stripe.com and gocardless.com. Customer's credit card details or bank details are stored on the secure servers of stripe.com or gocardless.com This entire site is secured by SSL.

About Our Company

Woodworking Masterclasses is a trading name of Rokesmith Ltd

Rokesmith Ltd



About Rokesmith Ltd | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | About Us


Useful Links

© 2023 - Rokesmith Ltd

Loading...
  • Register Now
  • Video Library
  • Gallery
    • Bedside Cabinet Gallery
      • Assembly Table Gallery
      • Bathroom Cabinet Gallery
      • Bench Stool Gallery
      • Blanket Chest Gallery
      • Bookends Gallery
      • Book Shelves Gallery
      • Breadboard-end Cutting Board Gallery
      • Carrying Tote Gallery
      • Chess Board Gallery
      • Chest of Drawers Gallery
      • Christmas Gallery
      • Coasters Gallery
      • Coat Rack Gallery
      • Coffee Table Gallery
      • Corner Shelf Gallery
      • Craftsman-style Lamp Gallery
      • Dining Chair Gallery
      • Dovetail Boxes Gallery
      • Fly Swat Gallery
      • Frame Saw Gallery
    • Foot Stool Gallery
      • How to Make a Table
      • Joiner’s Mallet Gallery
      • Joiners’ Toolbox Gallery
      • Keepsake Box Gallery
      • Laptop Desk Gallery
      • Leaning Wall Shelf Gallery
      • Mitre Box Gallery
      • Occasional Table Gallery
      • Picture Frames Gallery
      • Rocking Chair
      • Sawhorse Gallery
      • Shaker-Style Bench Seat Gallery
      • Shaker Stool Gallery
      • Sofa Table Gallery
      • Stepladder Gallery
    • Trestle Table
      • Tool Cabinet
      • Tool Chest Gallery
      • Walking Cane Gallery
      • Wall Brackets Gallery
      • Wallclock Gallery
      • Wall Shelf Gallery
      • Winding Sticks Gallery
      • Wooden Plane Gallery
      • Wooden Spokeshave
      • Wooden Tray Gallery
      • Workbench Gallery
      • Other user projects vol. I
      • Other user projects vol. II
      • Submit Photos to Gallery
  • About Us
  • News
  • FAQs
    • General FAQs
    • Workbench FAQs
  • Contact
Login Account

Insert/edit link

Enter the destination URL

Or link to existing content

    No search term specified. Showing recent items. Search or use up and down arrow keys to select an item.
      Search