What's the best approach to making a mortise in these legs?

[Alan Lightstone]

First a disclaimer. I've never made a mortise and tenon joint. A few domino loose tenon joints under my belt. That's as close as I've come. That being said, here's my problem:

I think I went one step too far while constructing these legs for a drafting table. I've already glued on 3 sides of the molding, before making the mortise for a stretcher.
Table-legs-before-stretchers.jpg


The legs themselves are 3-3/4" wood. With the molding at the bottom, the legs become 6-3/4" wide.
This is the look I'm going for here:
Ballard-Desk---Bottom-Corner.jpg
I don't know of any mortisers that can work with stock this wide. Perhaps my drill press can (I need to measure the clearance to the post.) I guess I could make a jig to hold the leg and a router securely. My Festool Domino can't fit into the narrow space between the molding.

Never tried making a mortise with chisels. Don't think I want to try here.

What would be some reasonable approaches to make the mortises in the legs that could work here?

[Bill Maietta]

Yeah, with the molding already on I'd recommend the drill press, and you'll need to make a cradle jig of sorts to hold the leg perpendicular to the bit. Then, use a fence and a stop for repeatability. Chisel out waste and corners and you're there. Good practice making jigs, right? Take it easy,Bill

[Mike Henderson]

Bill's response is the way I'd do it. Laying out the mortise is going to be a challenge because of the attached molding but you should be able to find a way to do it. Then put spacers under the leg to make it perpendicular to the drill bit and drill out most of the waste. Clean up with a chisel. Make your tenon a bit large and trim to fit the mortise. Epoxy glue is good because it can fill any gaps. Should not be too difficult but will take some time.

Good luck.

Mike

[Peter Quinn]

If you have a chisel mortiser with a long stroke it might reach in far enough. Other wise I'd go with the DP and a forschner bit. I don't think a router is viable given the distance you must reach. If you drill the holes with some though to the spacing, then go back and clean up the little ridges with successive passes there isn't much to clean up at the end, and you can either square the corners or round the tenons as you chose.

[Alan Lightstone]

I've seen conflicting instructions. Do you have the holes made by the Forstner bits overlap each other, or not?

[Michael Peet]

I've seen conflicting instructions. Do you have the holes made by the Forstner bits overlap each other, or not?

Yes, but bore the first set such that there is maybe 3/4" or so between holes (I guess that amount depends on the size of the hole). Then go back and bore out those spaces. Finally, make a few more passes to take off as many of the ridges as you can.

P1020310.20.jpg

Mike