First dry fit

After choosing how to assemble the parts, each tenon is tweaked to fit its mortise - a great job for hand-tools (specifically, my Stanley #92 shoulder plane). Here's the left apron pushed halfway into the left front leg.


All the legs and aprons dry-fit together, with the rough top thrown on for effect. The only thing holding it together at this point is the friction between the mortises and tenons.

Another view. The blue tape is to label the location of each part: from this point on, it only goes together "one way."