I’m building a couple of night stands that have legs and aprons, very much like a table with two drawers. My issue is that the aprons will be quite wide at 18” with horizontal grain direction.
I was designing them using Will Neptunes article from May/ June 1998 #130, Engineering a table with drawers. In it he uses doublers / spacers which are glued to the side aprons and the runners are the glued to the doublers. I can accommodate for the anticipated wood movement of the aprons with multiple tenons with haunches and pinned, like a bed headboard. The concern is that if I were to glue the doublers and runners to the aprons that they would interfere with the wood movement.
Has anyone had experience or insight on building a 2 drawer table with wide aprons? Am I over thinking the impact of gluing the doublers to the aprons? The article suggests the design can be used as a foundation for a variety of table sizes and configurations. I’m trying to stay away from a frame and panel, but might have to build a web and tie it to the legs.
Garrett Hack has a similar table design with 2 drawers with a 9” apron which is the widest I’ve been able to find.
Appreciate your insight.
Replies
The doublers and spacers are glued to the aprons only at the top and bottom. They will not restrict expansion and contraction of the sides, at all. I've done countless tables with the construction method Will uses.
18 inch wide aprons present other problems. Will has a great article in issue 138 on building a sideboard. 18 inches is about what the ends on a sideboard, rather than a side table. Take a look at that article.
Thanks John, I was thinking with the second drawer there would be a doubler in the middle as well that would cause an issue. I’ll read the # 138 issue you referenced.
Cheers,
It might be difficult to accommodate wood movement when building a table with wide aprons and drawers while still preserving structural integrity. One popular method for reinforcing the structure is to glue doublers to the aprons and attach runners to them. But as you correctly noted, there's a chance that this will obstruct the wood's normal expansion and contraction.