Fastening wood together??

[Randy C]

I am building a big green egg table and have a question about the framing. Table will have 3" square posts for each corner. Then I will attach a 5/4" by 6" board around the perimeter. Don't want to see fasteners. Could I take a Forster bit to hollow out the corner posts and attach the lag screws from the back side into the 6" board? Thus the head of the screw would inside the Forster bit hole. I would also glue the boards together. Would this be strong enough?

[WaterlooMarc]

The glue alone would strong enough. I would either just use a milled dowel from the front, use a regular screw and cover it with a plug, or (this is my first choice) simply dado the 3x3 and glue the cross members in.

Edit- that was supposed to say MILLER dowel. darn autocorrect.

[rwe2156]

#10 screws and plugs.
Be sure to drill the plug hole first!

[Routerman]

Use dowels (3 or 4) and an inside corner brace.

[Randy C]

Thanks guys, all good ideas. One more question - for the 6" boards, would you try to miter these or just do a 90 degree butt joint on the corners. Not sure if it would be difficult to have a nice miter on this large board.

Thanks

[brianwelch]

If you are building a table for the Big Green Egg, wouldn't dovetail corner joints be appropriate (if not obvious)?

[WaterlooMarc]

I'd just do butt joint. I don't think the miter would stay tight in the weather. Of course I'd also just buy the nest and build a stand alone table/cart for prep

[Steve N]

Sounds like you are talking about a "connector bolt"




I think that is more than you need to spend. My suggestion would be to forget attaching the top/skirt directly to the legs. IIRC those eggs weigh a ton. I would make sure your legs had bracing around them front, back, and both sides to ensure the legs didn't try to do the splits. I would then put some blocks behind the top braces (if you don't want to see any structure, or connections) then I would lay the top on the tops of the support blocks, but just below the tops of the legs. That would give a smooth, and very solid surface to sit your heavy egg on, with no hardware costs save a few exterior screws to screw the block to the legs. Bomb proof solid too.