Upscale wrote:
"Doug Winterburn" wrote in message
You can do the mortises using 3/4" material glued and laminated together
after ploughing out 3/8" deep on each half to receive the tenon. You
could use 1-1/2" material for a beefier look and make the mortise
ploughs about 1/2" deep for 1" tenons.

I have routers and chisels and can get access to my tablesaw which currently
resides at a friend's place. But, I'm not understanding completely what
you're saying to me. Are you suggesting that I basically cut a slot along
the centre wide edge of both halves and essentially put in a floating
through tenon? I was intending to use 2x8 or 2x10 lumber for the vertical
and horizontal pieces. With the 10" blade on the tablesaw, I can cut close
to 4" deep for the slots.


No floating tenons. What I'm trying to describe (poorly) is to cut half
of the through tenon in each of two pieces that will make up each
horizontal member of the pedestals - essentially a lap joint cut. Then,
glue these two pieces together with the lap joint cuts facing each other
producing a through mortise. The tenons would be as long as the width
of the material with the lap joints/mortise.