flattening walnut stock with a wooden joiner for the top rails of the leg assembly

using winding-sticks to make sure there is no twist in the board

finishing up with a #7 jack plane

squaring up the remaining edges and dimensioning the walnut on the bandsaw

layout lines

initial shaping of the curves on the top rail of the legs

testing it against the table-top

sawing lengths of white-oak for the vertical posts of the leg assembly

the white oak after squaring-up

testing the concept and a few angles before committing

laying out the leg joints

establishing the sliding dovetail angle with a knife

cutting the front of the sliding dovetail

all the bandsaw work done, now the hand-tools will finish

paring the back cheek of the tenon

the joint is most of the way there- the waste between the mortise and the dovetail is yet to be removed

the four white oak legs all cut

the arsenal of tools to accurately transfer the dimensions of the tenon/ dovetails onto the walnut rails

marking

starting the cut for the sliding dovetail socket with a carcass saw

another view cutting sliding dovetail sockets

chopping out the waste in the socket

paring the sidewalls unreached by the saw

using a router plane to achieve an accurate floor of the joint- the leg on the cutter allows it to reach the angled corners

another view of the router-plane

starting the mortise with a 3/4 mortise chisel

the first row is delicate- just establishing the shape and protecting the corners

going the full depth of the mortise with an auger – you can see the round-topped sliding dovetail socket parallel to the mortise

squaring the mortise the rest of the way with the mortise chisel

cleaning the sidewalls with my extra-big paring chisel

thank God, they fit!

step one is successful- to get to this point took endless drawings and two complete practice joints and a lot of patience

marking the leg rails for some shaping/ sculpting cuts on the band saw

the top rails post rough-shaping, and the taper of one of the white-oak legs marked with blue tape

dry re-assembly just to make sure

the glue-up

next week will concern the joining of the bottom rail and the final shaping of the leg assemblies