I recently bought a section on bowling alley that I am going to turn into a dining table but since cleaning it up I noticed a seam on the underside right in the location where the maple meets the pine.
I imagine this will be a weak point in the table so I want to stabilize it before getting too far into the process. My thoughts so far are to fill the gap with epoxy (it seems to be pretty sealed so it shouldn’t leak everywhere else) and then bridge the gap with a steel bar screwed many times over into both sides of the seam.
The table will also have 2 recessed bars, acting in a way similar to c-channels about 1/4 from each end for overall support.
Wondering if anyone has any insights on this process or any better ideas than what I have come up with
Pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/UFDw7IJ
Replies
Cool idea for a table there.
This is indeed a weak point in the structure, but it need not be a big problem.
Your steel bar though will not help in any way.
Instead, you need to bridge that gap in some way.
This would be a great place to practice dovetail keys - on the underside of a table where no-one will see them.
Personally, I would forget the C Channel and instead make a proper apron and legs. This would allow you to set a ply support in where it cannot be seen, and IMHO looks a lot better than 'slab and metal legs' and even with dovetail keys, you will want some form of support running the whole length of the table so you might as well go the whole hog.
Thanks for the reply, interesting though about the dovetails, I will consider that.
Could you elaborate on why the steel bar would not do anything. While not as strong as dovetails it will still bridge the gap and provide some support will it not?
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