surface preparation with a Stanley #80 scraper

the swirly walnut grain is difficult to plane but the scraper is able to deal with it efficiently

beginning to fit the side rails and bread-board ends

marking the end cuts with a sharp knife

then creating a shoulder along that line with a chisel assures a clean cut without tearing the grain

cutting along the shoulder with a sharp crosscut saw

a small array of saws to do this job

cutting the central breadboard tenon

coming up to the other side with a pull-saw

both ends of the table are now cut

cutting the base of the tenon “cheeks”

really no other position to accurately make this cut

cutting away the “cheeks”

the finished tenon, and a groove has been cut to receive a floating tongue to align the breadboard

laying out the positions of the mortise and tenons on the side rails and breadboards

cutting the tenon on the side rails

checking for a tight fit. the side rails are attached with glued tongue and groove joints, while the breadboards are “floating”, held in place by a tongue and groove joint and two “draw-bored” mortise and tenon joints, which will allow for expansion and contraction where the grain intersects perpendicular rather than parallel, yet holding the boards tight to the edge of the table. Two opposing corners are pinned miters and the other two are mortised.  imagine the table being able to expand in width along the length of the two boards left long to see the allowance for seasonal cross grain movement.

treating the edges before the final assembly

drilling for the dowels for the pinned miter joints where the live edges come together

a brad point drill marks the center of the tenon inside

re-marking the tenon with an offset so that the dowel pin will “draw” it tight to the edge of the table.  the holes will be elongated laterally to allow for joint movement.

shaping the dowel pins by pounding the straight oak through a succession of smaller holes drilled in a steel plate until they are round and the size I need

nearly there

a batch of pins

planing a taper

the taper will allow the pin to engage the offset hole in the tenon and slowly pull it tight

pounding the pins home for the final assembly

a little help form a ratchet strap to pull the center tight

cutting away the exposed ends with a saw

a tightly pinned joint