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I'm building a mobile (not on wheels) kitchen island for my partner in our new apartment, as a first woodworking project. A 3'x2' top is about right for the space, and she'd like an overall height of around 37", with a top thickness of around 1"-1.5". I expect to use maple for the top.

Because I don't have space for power tools I plan on using dimensional lumber, and I planned to use 2x2x36 poplar for the legs. But since that will give me an actual leg width of 1.5x1.5, I'm not sure this will be enough support. I plan to use aprons made with 1x3 poplar, attached to legs with mortise and tenons, along with 1x2 side stretchers near the base of the legs.

Are 1.5" square legs sufficient for a tabletop of this size? And will the use of this thickness of lumber (3/4" aprons and stretchers) prevent a good, solid mortise and tenon joint?

F McA
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    Hi, welcome to Woodworking. This would be fine even if you used pine or spruce! Remember for standard straight legs almost all of the forces are being transferred straight down to the ground, it's only when there are sideways forces introduced (e.g. in splayed legs) that leg strength starts to become really critical. Since this is intended to be moved a lot more than a typical table the stretchers lower down the legs are a great idea. These can be dowel instead of M&T rails to ease installation if that would be acceptable to you and your partner aesthetically. – Graphus Apr 27 '21 at 06:16
  • "as a first woodworking project" I laud the ambition but are you sure you want to take on mortise-and-tenon joints as a first-timer? If you're dedicated enough that you're sure you want to try them then by all means go for it but know that they're not needed for strength/stability and there are other simper (and far faster) options, including dowels and pocket-hole screws. – Graphus Apr 27 '21 at 06:18
  • @Graphus Thanks for the explanation on the leg forces. I know that the M&T is overkill here as far as strength goes, but I'm hoping to use this build to get some experience of the technique for use in (larger) future projects. But I hadn't considered dowels for the stretchers, and that's a good time saver! All of the tenons will be blind, so there won't be an aesthetic difference. – F McA Apr 27 '21 at 13:26
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    Not just M&T joints but, "I don't have space for power tools" - making them by hand! Good on ya! That's going to be a heck of a starter project. Make your mortises first, then make the tenons to fit - start a smidge large and reduce until they're just right. – FreeMan Apr 27 '21 at 14:15
  • @FreeMan Downside of living on the 4th floor in NYC! Thanks for the advice on order: is it best to use a rabbet plane to reduce the tenon edges to get the right fit? – F McA Apr 27 '21 at 19:25
  • Since you're in an apartment, do you know of the Apartment Workbench? If you don't have a workbench yet and haven't settled on a design this Answer has a few good contenders. If the design you pick has a top that will need to be planed flat this Answer has relevant advice on how to reduce the effort needed.... although it might be a case of "but I don't have those planes" :-) – Graphus Apr 27 '21 at 20:58
  • Re. M&Ts and larger projects, I feel it's important to mention that particularly the dowel joint (dowel-reinforced butt joint to give it its full name) is a direct competitor of the mortise and tenon, not just a fast-and-dirty 2nd cousin. Not only are the two joint types directly comparable in strength, the dowelled join can actually be stronger in certain cases. And this without being in any meaningful way more time-consuming to do than a very basic one with just two dowels coming out of the end of a 3/4" x 2" or 3". – Graphus Apr 27 '21 at 21:13
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    Re. fitting the tenon to the mortise, if you have a rebate or shoulder plane then by all means use it, it's one of the best options. But if you don't yet you can do this solely by careful paring, and this is considered a core skill. You can also do ultra-fine adjustments to fit with ease using a file; files are undervalued for this as well as other purposes in cabinetry. – Graphus Apr 27 '21 at 21:20
  • @Graphus Not yet given too much thought to the workbench, but the Apartment Workbench looks impressive. I'll keep in mind that the dowel joint is a complete joint in its own right. What applications might it be stronger in? The file is something I've not seen mentioned for fitting a tenon, and seems like a good method when the risk of taking too much off is high. – F McA Apr 28 '21 at 04:21
  • This sort of dowel joint is roughly equivalent to a M&T, that's probably the best way to think about it. Just as there are stronger and weaker mortise-and-tenon joints — thicker stock, longer tenon = stronger; thin stock, short tenons = weaker (not weak, just weaker) — if you have more dowels, or beef them up, or make them longer (deeper penetration into each piece) the joint increases in strength. When you go up from the basic 2 to 3 or 4 in a line that's a start, but dowels can also be arranged in a pattern, and it's these that are particularly strong and you'd use this for max strength. – Graphus Apr 28 '21 at 08:02
  • Re. files, for basic joint work one large single-cut file might be enough, but it's worth trying a curved-tooth file, sometimes sold as an aluminum file in your part of the world, or "body file" if intended for car bodywork. If you ever see a reference to dreadnaught or vixen files, they're also the same thing. In addition to joint surfaces these are great for flushing fills, final smoothing of dowels and other similar duties. In a broader woodworking context if you've seen anything about rasps, think of files as being an obvious next step in a progression to a smooth surface. [contd] – Graphus Apr 28 '21 at 08:13
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    Standard double- and single-cut files of all shapes/sizes/grades (super smooth - coarse/bastard cut) are useful for all sorts of shaping tasks. The rougher files easily take the place of finer-toothed rasps in a toolkit... at a significantly lower price usually. Plus they're almost guaranteed to last longer than some of the hand-cut rasps which have iffy heat treating (I'm looking at you Auriou). Also worth looking at the Kutzall rasps, which win no prizes for aesthetics but max points for longevity — tungsten carbide teeth, not metal. Plus they are omni-directional, which is hugely useful. – Graphus Apr 28 '21 at 08:25

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Go for it! I think this will be solid enough, especially with the stretchers down low.

The cherry legs on this taper to about an inch square. The top is concrete and about 60#. It held an espresso machine that was probably about 50# without shaking. Btw, there's a drawer in there, so it wasn't solid apron all around.

Edit: a few more dimensions... legs are 1-1/8 at the bottom, 1-5/8 near the top. Apron is 5-1/2x3/4 actual in maple.

Cherry/maple/concrete table

Aloysius Defenestrate
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  • Elegant table! Just curious because of the colour difference, are the drawer front and the rail also cherry? – Graphus Apr 27 '21 at 06:22
  • Thanks for the weights: gives me a good idea of the tolerance of smaller legs. What dimension are the apron pieces? – F McA Apr 27 '21 at 13:38
  • The drawer/apron are maple. I'll measure the height of the aprons shortly and update, but I'm guessing around 5 inches. – Aloysius Defenestrate Apr 27 '21 at 13:49