Taper mortises on 3-legged stool?

[Jeff Hagkull]

I am building a 3-legged stool. I don't want the legs to come through the seat like they do on a Windsor chair. I know that a tapered tenon and mortise will make for a stronger chair -- should I make my joints taper using a chair reamer? Or is that not usually done when you're not using a through tenon?

I realize that the reamer will bump up against the end of the mortise and stop cutting at that point, so this may depend on the depth of the mortice.

The seat will be more than 2-1/2 inches thick at the legs, though, leaving me with a decent amount of material to work with.

Thanks in advance for any advice. I'm not working off published plans, so I'm guessing at my joinery.

[Wayne Lomman]

The choice is yours. A taper will lock in more firmly, and provided the tenon isn't bottomed out, it will stay tight even if the tenon shrinks over time. However, in practice a well fitted parallel tenon in seasoned timber it not going anywhere either. Go with the choice that let's you sleep easy and you are not ashamed to describe in detail to whoever admires the finished piece. Cheers

[Jeff Hagkull]

... provided the tenon isn't bottomed out, it will stay tight even if the tenon shrinks over time.

I hadn't thought about this, so thank you. Appreciate the insight.