Although not new to woodworking, I don’t possess vast experienced in furniture building and could use some quidance, I am interested in building a piece similar to the attached photo (non-copywrited), however, I.m puzzled by a couple of joinery issues. First there’s what seem to be through tenons where the rails join the legs. These extend out through both of the leg sides at the very same height which seems unlikely for through tenons.  Could these be false tenons attached for appearance sake? If so, should they be located in line with each other? Wouldn’t that be too obvious?  Could they be some sort of by-passing half key, driven in from the outside and glued into each rail tenon? Since the piece seems to be in keeping with the mission style this must have been a commonly used joint. I would love to learn more about it.

Then there are the through tenons where the legs extend through the top. If these were real through tenons, how would you deal with wood expansion seeing that the rails on the sides are tenoned to the leg also? I suspect these to be false tenons with the top perhaps glued only in front. However, should one choose to use real through tenons in the top would the sides then have to be re-structured using verticle grain boards or would there be a way around this?

Thanks,

Denver Forbes