Mortises have been cut in the legs for this storage bench. I planned to miter the the tenons where they meet inside the leg mortises. Second thinking (guessing) about whether I should include a short tenon extension between the 2 primary tenons to either provide more shear strength to the tenon or to maybe help prevent splitting of the skirt between the tenons due to humidity shrinkage of the skirt, or to give more glue area, or .... has sent me here to ask for your thoughts. I am not particularly excited about cutting more mortises but will do if there is a reasonable chance I should do so to prevent a failure.
In researching this question on this site, I ran into another design item. Now I have 2 design thoughts spinning out of control in my head. This latest thought is whether the 45 miter where the tenons meet inside the leg is a good idea. In my research, someone suggested that overlapping the tenons is better than using a miter. I am starting to think that too. It would be more work but it seems to me to be a better design. I like to minimize work so I am here asking for your thoughts. I want to do what is most prudent thing to do, not necessarily the most conservative.
If your experience shows that the 2 tenons as designed will work just fine, I would like to continue as originally designed. If your experience shows that I may have a problem, then I will make a change. I just don't have real experience to base a decision on.
Thank you for your help.
bench mortise & tenon.jpg