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Building a farm table with big 5 inch legs. Is there any standard way to space the aprons on the legs. The aprons are 1 1/2 thick. Should I center the aprons on the 5 inches or bring out towards the front of the legs.
Reason I ask is I plan to do a 2 inch pinned mortise and tennon. If I center the aprons the two 2 inch mortises gets close to meeting in the middle of the leg.
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I seldom place aprons at the middle of the leg unless it's by necessity (skinny leg). On legs that big with a thick apron I might inset them 3/4", or a bit less than that. I also almost always use glue blocks on the inside, and that leaves more room for those.
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On legs that are from 1-1/2 to 2" square at the top, I'll leave about a 1/4" reveal.
So, on a 5" leg, 1/2 to 3/4" seems about right.
If the tenons meet inside the mortises, just cut a bevel on them.
Gary
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As several others have indicted, just play with the offset between the leg and the rail until you get something you like.
If you decide you like the rails centered, you can always cut your tenons *off-center* on the rails, or cut mitered tenons, etc.
-Mark
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Yeah, don't center the aprons on the legs. I agree that about a 1/4"-1/2" offset from the front would be good. Otherwise the apron will be visually buried under the tabletop.
Steve S.
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HUGE legs!
Keeping them inset about 1/8" from front = less interference from adjacent mortices.
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Gary G™ said:
On legs that are from 1-1/2 to 2" square at the top, I'll leave about a 1/4" reveal.
Exactly
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