M/T or Sliding Dovetails on table legs?

[Irvin Cooper]

Good evening all.

I am in the process of building a kitchen table out of walnut.

In joining the aprons to the legs, I am curious as to whether to use mortise & tenon joints or a sliding dovetail. Both seem to have advantages and disadvantages.

Your thoughts, feedback, and experience would be greatly appreciated, as always.

Thanks.

Irv

[David Gendron]

I would use tenons and motises. Sliding DT seem more complicated than needed!!
Just my tought!

[Greg Hawthorne]

Sliding tenons are traditionally used where the shape of the leg either precludes clamping, or makes clamping difficult (e.g. snake-foot leg to a round pedestal). If the leg can be readily clamped, them M&T is the better option.

If you don't have clamps long enough to span the rail, alternative are to use ratchet tie-down straps, or improvise by holding the rail in a vise.

In this piece, I probably should have used a sliding dovetail. M&T was easier to cut, difficult to clamp, but probably provided a stronger joint.

[Doug Shepard]

I've done them both ways. M&T is easier by far but the sliding DTs have some things going for them that the M&Ts dont. Glue joints can competely fail with the DTs and the legs will still stay attached to the aprons. Like Greg mentioned, you can pretty much skip clamping too.

[Rick Thom]

Make sure your wood is dry (@8% mc) and acclimatized.
Well fit M&T, pegged with 2 dowels would be my 1st choice. Elongate the hole in the lower tenon to allow for expansion of apron downward. Apply glue sparingly but thoroughly to the cheeks of the tenon, upper portion of tenon only to allow for expansion.
Kitchen tables can take quite a beating moving it around over the years and there's a lot of leverage (purchase) applied to the leg/apron joints so you don't want the joint to loosen.

[Irvin Cooper]

Thank you all for the feedback. It is looking like I will go the M/T route on this.

The long aprons are 64" long. What is the best way to cut tenons on these? Those seem a little long to try to run over the tablesaw, even with a long fence on my miter gauge.

Thanks again.

Irv

[Rick Thom]

I imagine the table saw with dado would be the norm for many.
You could also use a band saw to make the cheek cuts and bring to final finished dimension with a hand plane.