ThomD
>No harm in drying the tenons, though i'm not sure it will help that much since it is really a technique for parallel sided joints. John Alexander has a technique where he puts flats on the side of the tenons, and dries them, then puts them in a hole. The end result is that they expand so violently that without the flats there might have been trouble. So it would be possible to get too much expansion with this method. Everything has to be just right with the Alexander method, the final shaping of the tenons has to be done by hand with lots of trial fittings etc...

While the method is an amazing acheivement, it does make one wonder if it was really done this way in the old days. Rediscovery of old methods being one of his interests. Of course there is a gentler option where one is really just insuring that at the very least the tenons aren't wetter than the mortises...

With the tapers they set under the weight of the user which is fine so long as the seat is up to it. Of course the tenons need to be dry, but nothing too crazy.