Shoe rack with through-tenons

I needed a place to store shoes in the bedroom and decided on a design with through-tenons and contrasting woods to highlight the joints. I made the shelves from cherry and the sides from maple. Viewers of the Wood Whisperer might recognize the design.

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Now a few process photos:

I started with a CAD model to work out the proportions I liked:
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The sides have a gentle taper. The back edge is square to the base and each side section is tapered 2 degrees, for a 4 degree taper in total. The tenons get proportionally narrower as you go up. It took some careful layout to get all this geometry right.

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Being a beginner, I didn't really know how to cut mortise and tenon joints. I started by cutting the tenons on the table saw and attempting to chop the mortises by hand to fit. I realized this was not a good approach after some frustration with the first mortise.

To recover, I made a template to route the mortises a little narrower than the tenons I had already cut and used a router plane to sneak up on a tight fit.

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Here are the pieces with all the joints cut, and a dry fit:

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I applied the finish before assembly, with the glue surfaces masked off. Three coats of gloss Arm-R-Seal and a final coat of satin.

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Thanks for having a look!

Nice job! I like through tenons, and use them on some of my stuff too.

Chris, a shoe rack with class! I have found shoe racks to be a popular workshop gift for many in my extended family.

Way too nice for shoes. Wonderful job.

“ Too nice !” Wives will often say that …..and then up-grade fine pieces to something they “ have really been needing”.

I should have made it bigger so the shoes don't cover it up so much.

That's a really, really attractive end result!

Great job...

A very attractive, well executed project for a often needed item!

Well done Christopher - very nice and precise work. Looks great.

Very nice work. It doesn’t look beginner at all!

very nice – I love the through tenons! For future consideration, maybe contrasting color wedges?

+1 to others comments about the utility of shoe racks.I've built about 1/2 dozen of these in a couple different styles and everyone I've given them to didn't know the needed issue rack until they got one, and then it was essential estimation Mark

Cheers, Mike