Anatomy of an Old Pine Table

This table showed up on Freecycle dot org, and I'm just a sucker for free wood.  It's definitely not "fine furniture" and probably falls in the category of "country furniture".  The lady giving it away said she got it some years ago from an antique furniture place.  At first I thought it was probably just a reproduction, but after taking it apart I can see it was the real thing.  Originally it was the appropriate height for a dinner table, but a few years back they cut down the legs to use it as a coffee table.

About 48"diameter, knotty pine top (not close to flat or smooth)

Turned legs had been cut down.
Aprons with a large bead detail at bottom.

It was made from a very knotty pine, with a 48" diameter, 1 1/8" thick top that, when looked at from a very low angle, wasn't close to flat.  There were two battens screwed to the underside of the top at the widest cross-grain location.  A cutout was made in two aprons to allow for the battens.  Oddly, near the outside of the table, the battens were affixed to the top with four relatively new and small (#8?) Philips-head screws.  Further towards the inside, they were affixed to the top with big, old slotted-head screws through elongated holes.  No glue was used with the battens.  I don't know why the new screws were there.

The table belly-up; note the battens

Batten with some new and old screws

The undercarriage comprised four beefy legs and four beefy aprons.  The legs were just shy of 3 3/4" square and were turned below the level of the apron mortises.  The aprons were 1" thick (one of them was 1 1/8" thick), 4 7/8" wide and 23 1/16" long, including the 1 7/8" long tenons.  The inside of the aprons had a groove plowed near the top for buttons that were used to affix the top.

Two of the 9 buttons (why not 8?), with relatively new (why?) screws

The one-cheeked tenons of the aprons were pegged (don't believe they were draw-bored) into the mortises.  One m&t joint had three pegs while all the others had two.  And the position of the pegs was anything but consistent from one m&t to the next.

Two pegs on this one

Three pegs on this one - the third one went right through the quirk and splintered the bead.
Regarding the bead, would you put your beading plane through that huge knot?!

The 5/8" bead extends onto the tenon and goes into the mortise

The aprons' tenons had a top 3/4" - 1" shoulder, which was
way more than needed since the mortises went to 5/8" from the top of the leg

The 9/16" wide, ~4 3/8" long, ~2 3/8" deep mortises were inset 5/8" from the edge of the leg and stopped about 5/8" from the top of the leg.  There was no haunch.  The mortises at first appeared to have been bored out with a brace and bit before having the walls pared.  But after further investigation, I now think that these mortises were made using a mortising machine with hollow chisel.  To look at the mortises, I split a 5/8" thick chunk off the legs.  The removed chunks slid easily over the pegs.

Splitting off 5/8" of the leg to get at the mortise

Look at all that extra space in this mortise!
And check out how the bead extends to the end of the tenon!

The mortise wall of a split-off section

The inside mortise wall - note the circular patterns at bottom.
Another detail: the dowels were 3/8" diameter and shaped with ridges.

The circular indents at the bottom of the mortises at first made me think these mortises were bored out with brace and bit.  But two things indicate they might have used a hollow-chisel mortising machine.  First, there are no thread indentations where the lead screw would have pulled an auger bit into the mortise.  Second, the mortise walls are too straight, with no indication of rounded areas (from an auger bit).  It appears as if a hollow chisel was slightly out of parallel with the leg, leading to obvious vertical lines, but also that the chisel wasn't sharp, leading to the horribly rough mortise walls.

Here are a few more random details.

Machine marks on bottom edge of apron - was a jointer used?
Also, if a beading plane was used, it wasn't adjusted quite right
as evidenced by the step where the bead meets the apron's edge.

This apron show surface was far from flat - was it ever?  Who knows?

The inside face of this apron shows no attempt at surface planing

Each leg had its center marked with intersecting diagonals and
the turning center was clearly visible 

An interesting table, to be sure.  It was made in a utilitarian fashion.  The mortises were made quickly and oversized with no extra work to true them up.  The aprons were planed only on show surfaces (if at all).  Machine marks show on inner faces and edges.  The beads were done rapidly with little care about tearout.