Will, are you saying you bore peg holes before the mortice is cut? I tried that once years ago and when my feed screw hit the peg hole I had problems. It is a bugger, the blow out on the inside of a finished mortice, an irritating thing.
I also subscribe to a drawn peg aiding in continually pulling a joint, to some degree. Pulling a frame together with straps and other gear will not help in this. You may succeed in crushing some fibers, though. If you are using nice dry material that may be applied differently.
