Fake the thru-arm leg tenon on a bow-arm Morris chair

[Gene Davis]

I am ready to do this right now. I've seen in videos how the work is laid out and cut to get the arm tenon through a skewed square hole in the curved arm, but it seems a better way, to me, to fake it.

Here is a pic from Stickley's website showing the finished product.

I want to mortise a 1/4" deep square hole, and fit a plug to it so the end result looks the same. In the bottom middle of the hole, I plan to bore and countersink a hole for a nice big wood screw to go down into the leg.

Same look, exactly, when done, but "fake." An Xray Sketchup screencap shows the plug and the plug in the mortise.

Sound OK to you?

[glenn bradley]

It is a choice. If you are already making the angled mortise, I would be tempted to see it through. If you are going with a false through tenon (which I have no objection to in any way for this sort of appearance) I would pass on the bother of the angled mortise altogether and just use a floating tenon (hidden) with the false through tenon cap.

[Jim Matthews]

I don't get this, at all.

FWW had a similar faux ebony plug on a Green and Green style mirror frame.
Why not go all the way through? Sure, it's difficult, but this is an affectation without purpose.

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Depending on how you do the legs a "real" through tenon may be goofy. For example if you do 4 or 5 piece legs the structure of the leg will show in the end grain.
Salem