Tapered Tongue & Groove Through-Leg Joinery System

This project involved the development of a custom joinery system for a three-legged solid wood table where the legs pass fully through the tabletop as a primary visual feature. Starting from an early design concept without a defined structural strategy, I engineered a tapered tongue-and-groove joint that tightens during assembly, delivering high strength while maintaining a clean, hardware-free appearance. The joint localizes glue at the seated end to manage seasonal wood movement, allowing the remaining width of the leg to expand and contract freely. Designed specifically for CNC fabrication, the system has proven durable in production and is now used across multiple table sizes and variants, including both standard and custom configurations.

Engineered a tapered tongue-and-groove joinery system to allow solid wood legs to pass fully through a circular tabletop, supporting a defining visual feature of the design.
Designed the joint to self-tighten during assembly, providing high structural strength while maintaining clean, hardware-free surfaces.
Managed wood movement by localizing glue application to the seated end of the joint, allowing seasonal expansion across the leg width.
Developed a production-ready system that has been adopted across coffee and side table variants and continues to be used for custom sizes.

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