An important feature of the mortise-and-loose-tenon joinery is ensuring that the tenon does not move. Glue alone may suffice, but I have added 3/8" diameter pegs or dowels. Now I recently purchased a dowel maker on Temu for the grand sum of $19 AUD. How good could this be? Well, in short, it is pretty damn good, to my surprise.
But it would be the wrong way to make pegs/dowels for these joints. That jig make great dowels for filling holes, but for pegging tenons you need grain that does not have run out, is straight and strong. This means making pegs from rived stock. This was then pounded through a LN dowel plate ....
The peg holes had already been drilled in the base and upright, as shown previously. The loose tenons were glued into the bases and upper stretchers (but not the vertical stretcher yet). Now the holes were extended through the tenons ...
... the excess sawn off ...
... and the stubs sanded away ...
Sanding is the better choice here of using a chisel since the dust will fill any gaps in the pegged holes. Just add glue and sand flush.
Once the base and upper stretchers are complete, the vertical stretcher can be glued and clamped, first to the base ...
... and then the upper stretcher is added ...
While clamping all together, the level is checked to be parallel. This was found to be within 0.05 degree. Happy with this.
The loose tenons for the cross stretcher are sawn for wedges ...
The tenon is shaped for later ...
The wedges are sawn roughly to shape, and then planed to match each other using a simple fixture made for the purpose ...
Before the cross stretcher is glued, the underside of the bases are given protective pads (made from “Crubber”). These raise the ends about 2mm, ensuring both stability on the floor as well as a non-slip ...
Finally, the cross stretchers are added and the ends clamped together ...
Attention and time was given to ensuring all was perfectly square, and remained so once clamped up ...
The first coat of Whittle Evolution hard wax oil (Classic) was rubbed on. A second coat was added a day later. The colours in this Jarrah just popped out ...
Returning to the design of this trestle table base, the aim was to build something to meld with the DC 09 chairs I built. How have we done? Keep in mind that the table top will be Rock Maple.
The elliptical sections of the trestle base hopefully match the legs and arms of the chairs ...
Regards from Perth
Derek