Need Help With Coffee Table Design

The mortises intersect, Seawitch, and then the ends of the tenons are mitered where they meet. They likely don’t quite touch, but that allows maximum glue surface for both joints.

Ok, there’s number one. Next?

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"

The tenons can have a miter on the end, or the mortises may not be so deep as to have the tenons touch. Good luck with the table.

Edit: Lee must be able to type faster than I can on my phone : )

Thank you Lee Barker and ShaneA. What about the little drawer? Is it as simple as 2 rails supporting the drawer or do I need full support underneath?

-- When you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it.”   Theodore Roosevelt

2 rails perpendicular to the drawer face will do it. You can attach slides to them. If you go w/o slides or hardware, the drawer will need support from the bottom.

speechless

-- "Good artists borrow, great artists steal”…..Picasso

do you see the size of the leg?

is there a reason the tenon has to meet the perpendicular tenon?

do you think they even used tenons ?

what about biscuits ?………or dominos? ………..or steel corner brackets?

has anybody mentioned the fact that a 4’ x 4’ top expands up to a 1/4” per foot, across the grain

anybody ever bought piece of Ikea furniture……………..and the studied it ?

I would be less concerned about the mortise and tenon and more concerned about how to keep the top, from twisting the base into a slinky, once its secured.

-- "Good artists borrow, great artists steal”…..Picasso

don’t be mad, Moron. I figure that any table top of any size has to be attached to the base with hardware that will allow it to expand and contract. I recognize that there are different ways to attach the legs to the rails with a mortise and tenon being one of them…

-- When you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it.”   Theodore Roosevelt

There is an excellent series of tutorials available on youtube for sketchup. on the sketchup screen, there should be a link to watch these tutorials, and they are linked in order at the end of each video. I have been watching them myself, and then just playing with the tools to get the hang of it. it is a fairly overwhelming program, but once you start messing around with it, you start to see how simple designs can be accomplished, even with little knowledge on how to use it.
hope that helps, I would offer to draw it for you, but I am in the dark on exactly what it should look like myself :)
(yes I have seen the underside of tables with drawers in them, but knowing what is there, and adequately designing one yourself are two different things).

-- Work consists of whatever a body is OBLIGED to do, and Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. -Mark Twain

I would run a mortise and tenon but wouldnt have them meet, say an inch deep. Then run an angled piece from apron to apron, tenon those as well and screw through angled pieces, right through the apron tenons into the legs and screw through the angled piece into the leg as well.

by making a sub assembly for the drawers, you can alleviate any movement from the giant slab.

-- "Good artists borrow, great artists steal”…..Picasso

Moron, what do you have in mind for a “sub assembly” for the drawers? I follow the rest of what you suggest, and that’s pretty much what I had in mind.

Thanks for all suggestions, everyone.

-- When you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it.”   Theodore Roosevelt

This isn’t a coffee table, but the construction would be basically the same. These lags are tapered and the apron pieces join the legs with M&T joints. I use figure-eights to attach the top to the leg assembly. If you do the drawer in your picture, you’ll need to reinforce the apron piece so it won’t break if the top flexes.

-- Adversity doesn't build character...................it reveals it.

I’m making a piece with similar issues, seawitch. it’s not a coffee table but a hall table with very different proportions and much more delicate in nature, as a result I have no choice but to have the apron tenons meet at the corner in a mitre – the legs are 21cm square! – but your legs look big enough that you could keep your tenons short enough that they don’t meet which is definitely preferable. Sawkerf’s pictures illustrate it perfectly really. Best of luck with it!

thanks neight, moron, sawkerf and lorna, that’s really kind, and helpful.

-- When you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it.”   Theodore Roosevelt

Many tables have a piece of wood or a metal bracket theta crosses from on apron to the other and a hanger bolt is screwed into the leg. Then you can tighten when needed to keep the leg pulled in tight to the apron. No tendons at all.

Think about putting a lazy susan on that table top?? Would be unique. maybe a latch to keep it from turning when you don’t want it to.