I've been asked to build this table base on a picture. All of it that I can see is easy. It's the fastening to the top that has me asking questions.
I've built a trestle table (pic attached). It was easy. Two runners between each leg assembly supported the top; a trestle stretched between the vertical posts in the legs. Easy peasy, but it was all glued together hard.
This one is knock-down.
Do you attach the two leg assemblies to the top (with your favorite wood-movement-allowing method) with nothing between the leg assemblies and then hammer in the bottom stretcher's tusks? Are there runners under the top? I don't think there are but I'm not sure.
I suggest asking the customer if they have other pictures and dimensions.
I would be especially concerned about how much the breadboard ends extend out. That is a long lever arm for a relatively weak joint - problematic both for people getting up at the end of the table and for people lifting the table to move it.
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I'd bridge the two legs on top with a black metal plate. Then route a corresponding channel on the underside of the top to recess the plate. Place a few threaded inserts in that channel lined up with oversized holes in the plate to accept black Allen head bolts that screw into those inserts.
Personally for that table, I just want the illusion of the legs meeting up and supporting the top and no visible stretcher between them (until you bend down and look)
(10-27-2022, 12:17 PM)iclark Wrote: I suggest asking the customer if they have other pictures and dimensions.
I would be especially concerned about how much the breadboard ends extend out. That is a long lever arm for a relatively weak joint - problematic both for people getting up at the end of the table and for people lifting the table to move it.
Oh, no other pics available show the underside; it was pulled from a website. I won't make the ends greater than 6" wide--have already suggested that. It'll be 2" thick, so the tenons inside can be beefy.
(10-27-2022, 12:19 PM)atgcpaul Wrote: I'd bridge the two legs on top with a black metal plate. Then route a corresponding channel on the underside of the top to recess the plate. Place a few threaded inserts in that channel lined up with oversized holes in the plate to accept black Allen head bolts that screw into those inserts.
Personally for that table, I just want the illusion of the legs meeting up and supporting the top and no visible stretcher between them (until you bend down and look)
Hmmm. Hadn't thought of that. I assume then that the plate would be lag screwed into the tops of the legs? Say, 5" long screws or so? I had intended on putting an upper stretcher at the top like the one at the bottom. I'll present that idea.
(11-01-2022, 07:39 PM)Papa Jim Wrote: You and I and everybody on the forum knows that those breadboard ends are going to move. Make sure the client knows that!
Papa Jim
Yup! I tell them that they can expect the table top to expand beyond the edges of the end in the summer and shrink inside them in the winter with humidity changes.
I also explain how a *real* bread board end works and how it's built so they understand it well.
I built a trestle table from a plan in one of Norm's NYW books. I built the table about 2003-2004 or so.
Here's a pic of the underside where the supports meet the table.
The table top dimensions are 33"W x 59"L x 1 3/8" thick. Material is elm.
There is no support that runs the length of the underside of the table and it's just as flat as the day I finished it. It has breadboard ends that are pegged into place. Only the center peg has any glue in it. However, the table has not moved a great deal since I built it. In fact, the movement was a lot less than I expected, even though we live in an area with very humid summers.
The battens underneath the table top are attached to the table top with pocket hole screws. The table top connects to the supports using the pegs you see. The whole table knocks down for ease of movement; it knocks down to four major pieces (2 support legs, table top, and stretcher, plus the tusks.)
The table does not shake or wobble, at all, as long as the tusks are tight in place. The pegs attaching the supports to the table top are snug, but easily re,oved, and they do nothing to make the table solid and rigid as a structure.
11-02-2022, 09:27 AM (This post was last modified: 11-02-2022, 09:29 AM by rwe2156.)
+1 on an upper support between the legs. Can be wedge tenoned just like the bottom. If not, they table is probably going to bow. I would use wood and attach top with buttons.
+1 on the breadboards. WAY too wide!! Talk to client about eliminating them totally. Matter of taste, many consider rustic tables look better with out them.
(11-02-2022, 09:27 AM)rwe2156 Wrote: +1 on an upper support between the legs. Can be wedge tenoned just like the bottom. If not, they table is probably going to bow. I would use wood and attach top with buttons.
+1 on the breadboards. WAY too wide!! Talk to client about eliminating them totally. Matter of taste, many consider rustic tables look better with out them.
It's not the BB ends that move, its the top!!
Yeah, I've worked out a spanning support for the top.
No, the bread board ends stay. The customer gets what the customer pays for. As I mentioned above, they'll be no wider than 6", just like others that I've built. With a nearly 2" thick top, the tenons can be nice and beefy. Yes, the BB doesn't move; the table does.
(10-27-2022, 12:19 PM)atgcpaul Wrote: I'd bridge the two legs on top with a black metal plate. Then route a corresponding channel on the underside of the top to recess the plate. Place a few threaded inserts in that channel lined up with oversized holes in the plate to accept black Allen head bolts that screw into those inserts.
Personally for that table, I just want the illusion of the legs meeting up and supporting the top and no visible stretcher between them (until you bend down and look)
I agree with this. You can decide if routing the bottom is required or not. With nothing to really keep the top flat; I would finish the bottom exactly the same as the top. (i.e. same sanding and # of coats.)
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