All,
I’ve got a commission to do a cherry picnic-style table and am considering gluing the lap joint that will marry the the legs. Face width: 6″, depth: .5″ on full 1″ stock. Center of lap will carry typical through tennon with wedge. I am concerned that the wood movement in such a wide lap would cause great stress, but it is an indoor piece and the added strength would be useful.
Any thoughts greatly appreciated.
John
Replies
My first thought was that any wood movement would be identical in the lapped pieces. As I visualized the joint by crossing my hands, I realized however that as the crossing angle approaches ninety degrees the classic cross grain situation is created. Would it be possible to add to the thickness of the legs, resulting in a deeper lap, and count on the wedged tenon to hold the lap tight? Keeping the wedge long, and the taper gradual, might help hold the joint tight.
Don,
Great thoughts. I checked in with a furniture maker friend of many years who suggested going ahead and glueing up the joints. His chief support was that cherry was a very stable wood and unlikely to move much. I went ahead and glued up one set of legs and the increase in solidity is significant-like welding-and more than I thought it would be, so I'm going to take a shot and glue up the rest. Will tell client to keep table out of AC and sun.
I thought of beefing up the legs in some way, but have yet to come up with a design that seems to be visually pleasing and yet do anything meaningful. Good comment about the wedge. I'll post a gallery pic when done in a week or so. Thanks for the post.
JK
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