Tom, Mortise and tenon joints have been around for a very long time. They are a great choice but not the only choice. If you look in the Gallery section of the forum you will see a small shaker table I built. I have done a few of these for friends to use as telephone or plant stands. The first one I cut the mortise and tenons on a router table. It was a learning experience. The second table I drilled and chiseled the mortises, I made the tenons using a tenoning jig on my tablesaw. It also came out fine. The last two tables I built using pocket hole joinery, and any future versions of this table will be done that way. Pocket hole joinery makes for very fast construction, same clean look, and the joint (Assembled with glue and screws) is actually stronger than a mortise and tenon.(A claim made by Krieg Tool) Another option is the floating tenon design. You cut a mortise in both pieces of wood and use a tenon to connect them. One version of this you can do using a drill bit and you can buy or create your own tenons using a specialty router bit. Through dowel construction is another option. It also lends itself to a more decorative look. Don't lock yourself into a single way of constructing joints.
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Mike
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