# mortise and tenon for triangular or hexagonal tables



## leftcoaster (Jan 1, 2016)

Anyone able to provide pointers on how to lay out and cut mortises for a table whose top will not be rectilinear? How do you effectively and safely cut the tenons if the stretchers have to go on a 120 or 60 degree angle rather than a 90?


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

If you make a hexagonal table, you can use hexagonal legs. You will be able to make mortises in the legs that are square to a face and then skipping one face of the leg, make another mortise. You aprons will all be square cut tenons.


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## leftcoaster (Jan 1, 2016)

That makes sense. any tips on milling hexagonal legs?


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

You can do it at th tablesaw by setting your saw at 30°. 
Let's say you want 1" faces on your hexagon. Square root of 3 X 1 = 1.732…..... (square root of 3 being a constant) so this will be your stock thickness. Your stock width will be 2 or twice your face width. Now make a mark at 1/2 of 1.732 along that side. With your piece lying on the wider side, set your fence so that a 30° cut goes right thru that mark. Turn it around and cut again, flip it over and cut two more times. I had to do a bunch of research to figure this out.
https://rechneronline.de/pi/hexagon.php


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## leftcoaster (Jan 1, 2016)

This is very helpful. Thank you for the clear explanation. 


> You can do it at th tablesaw by setting your saw at 30°.
> Let s say you want 1" faces on your hexagon. Square root of 3 X 1 = 1.732…..... (square root of 3 being a constant) so your stock width will need to be twice that. Your stock thickness will be 2 or twice your face width. Now make a mark at 1" along the 2" side. With your piece lying on the wider side, set your fence so that a 30° cut goes right thru that mark. Turn it around and cut again, flip it over and cut two more times. I had to do a bunch of research to figure this out.
> https://rechneronline.de/pi/hexagon.php
> 
> - firefighterontheside


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

I did some math wrong. Standby. Ok, it's fixed.


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