Just picked up a 3’x8’x2″ piece of white oak with a spectacular grain. Wife wants it to become a dining room table in th trestle style. After searching her library of Arch. Digests, she found a design she likes.
From the picture, it appears that the trestle is attached to the top by means of a cross table dovetail. The table in the picture appears about 3″ thick and the cross table member is about 4 x 3 with about a 3/4″ dovetail let into the bottom of the top. The tail appears about 3 1/2 wide at it’s widest point.
My game plan for this joint is to cut the tail in a piece of Mahogany about 2 1/2 x 5 and end up with a tail about 4″ wide, then layout the slot, hog out the waste with a straight cutter on my router, then fine tune the edges with a dovetail bit in the router.
Couple of questions:
Is this the fast track to madness?
The top is white oak and the trestle will be mahogany, Is this a deadly combination?
Should I stick with 8 degrees or go to 14?
Is 1/2 depth on the tail enough, ore should I consider a 3/4″ depth of cut bit?
Pueblo, CO
BTW, the folks at Collectors Specialty Woods are great. Friendly, patient and helpful.
Replies
daddy,
The construction technique you are describing is very traditional. If you are committed to a 1/2" depth (my preference, just in terms of work in removing the waste in that hard oak top), I'd opt for a harder wood than mahogany for the battens. Another piece of oak. If the top decides to go warpy on you, I can see the mahogany batten easily bending or even splitting the flared "ears" off its dovetails.
If you are committed to mahogany for the battens, I'd make the dovetail slots 3/4" deep x 2" wide, and turn the 2 1/2" x 5" battens on edge.
Ray
recent FWW
daddyman
You should look at the recent article in FWW on this very type of table you are planing to build- may give you some additional tips. Pop Woodworking also has had a recent article using dovetails to attach a table top
Jeff S
Project Completed
The Table project has been completed in time for the holidays. Tried a couple of new things building this project. I used a sliding dovetail to attached the base to the top, I filled the cracks with clear epoxy resin and I added a couple of butterflies for effect. The base is mahogany left over from another project and is all mortise and tenon.
I think I spent the better part of a Sunday doing those sliding dovetails. I’m sure it would be easier working with lighter materials, but all the base parts are 2 1/2” by 5” and the sliders started out well over their 36” finished length. I was beat by the end of the day.
The base has one coat of Boiled Linseed Oil, then a couple coats of amber shellac, a coat of clear de-waxed shellac, and then 4 coats of wiped on poly.
The top got basically the same treatment without the Boiled Linseed Oil and with 7 coats of wiped on poly followed by buffing with car polish after one week of cure time.
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