(Apologies if this has been answered before. This probably has a really obvious answer.)
I need to connect two 4x4s in a "T". (These are one leg and a center / longitudinal support for a long table.)
I decided on a half lap joint since it looked relatively easy to do, but my wife doesn't want to see the back of the joint on the table feet. I thought: easy enough, I'll just make it a blind joint so that the end of the long board doesn't go all the way through, leaving about 3/4" on the end of the lap.
However, I'm not sure what the best way is to cut this into the table foot (about 32" piece of 4x4). My initial attempt on a piece of scrap was to drill a few holes in the corners of the waste area, hit it with the jig saw and chisel out the rest. This works, mostly, but is something of a pain and doesn't get me a smooth surface at the bottom of the cut for the long board to mate with.
I'm not super-comfortable with the idea of putting a 1.5" bit on my router as I'm a bit afraid of snapping the shaft if the teeth catch on a knot.
Suggestions? I considered a mortise-and-tenon joint, but that leaves me with the problem of cutting a 1.5-1.75"-deep mortise, which is basically the same issue I'm having here.
I could probably just get a large bit or hole saw, use my neglected drill press and clean up the excess with the jig saw or chisel, but is there a better / more accepted / safer way to do this?