As a rule I generally like to make mortises first and then fit the tenons to them, but in this case I am using a machine to make the mortises so I know that they will all come out the same width. That’s why I waited to finish the mortises in the back legs until now.
I wanted to make sure that I had the side aprons out of the way. I fit those tenons to the front legs which will be the same as the back.
Here’s all my legs, set out for left and right. I selected the best sides for the outside where they will show.
Then I went back to the template I used to cut the back legs. I drew the start and end of the mortises on it to transfer it to each leg. I used the full sized drawing to mark the template first.
Here’s a closeup of what I’m talking about:
Then just to be certain that I put the mortises in the correct place I made a small mark with ink where they will go.
I setup the mortise machine to put the mortise the same distance from the edge as the front legs. Since the legs didn’t lie flat. I just used two scrap pieces to space them away from the back and the surface. I used these for both sides to keep the position and depth of the mortises the same.
Remember that when I made the template, I made sure that the section where the mortises went, was perfectly square allowing me used a flat spacer to do this.
Finally they are all done:
Next time I will have it easy. Making the front and back aprons.