Bench-cutting deep mortise and tenon joints for a High Desert adobe dining room
A family in the North Valley of Albuquerque brought us a failed commercial extension table after its engineered core snapped under winter heating dryness. The interior air measured twelve percent relative humidity, causing the particleboard apron to shear free from its mechanical bracket inserts.
We designed an authentic eight-foot trestle table in solid Pennsylvania Cherry with four matching slat-back chairs. The trestle stretcher uses traditional through-mortise-and-tenon framing secured with hand-shaped timber drawbore pins. No metal fasteners carry the primary tensile stress across the base. To handle New Mexico winter heating followed by torrential August monsoon moisture, the one-and-three-eighths-inch solid Cherry tabletop floats entirely on slotted steel expansion clips that allow a three-eighths-inch cross-grain movement without warping or splitting.
Every exposed timber surface received a hand-rubbed post-catalyzed conversion varnish formulated to resist water rings, common culinary acids, and heat up to 140 degrees without blooming. We never apply soft polyurethane lacquers that degrade or cloud under desert ultraviolet exposure.
- Primary Timber Species Solid North American Black Cherry
- Joint Construction Drawbored Mortise and Tenon
- Expansion Engineering Slotted Steel Floating Table Clips
- Protective Finish Post-Catalyzed Conversion Varnish
- Table Dimensions 42 in × 96 in Solid Top
- Build Lead Time Quoted Upon Timber Selection