Table Top Bread Board Ends ?

[Dale Stillman]

I am approaching the point of completing a 'heavy duty' dinning room table. The top is made with 3/4" thick Alder for the center with a 5" wide x 1-1/2" thick side edge and end. The ends will be 'breadboard' useing a mortise & tenion 1-1/2" deep. I will leave 1/2" spacing on ea. end of the tenion for expansion/contraction. The overall width is 36". The end cap will be attached w/3 screws (is that enough?). The screw holes @ ea. end will be elongated for movement. The center 4" of the tenion will be glued & secured w/a screw having no elongation in the tenion. Is this plan a good one? TIA for your help.

Dale

[Jim DeLaney]

It'll work, but I'd use wood pegs (dowels) instead of the screws. Blind drill for them from below if you don't want them to show. Use glue in the center one, but not on the ends.

<Center><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS" COLOR="Blue">Jim D.</FONT></Center>
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[Dennis Peacock]

Dale,

I have a breadboard how-to at this <a href="http://home.alliancecable.net/~woodworker/breadboards.html">spot on the web</a> that can help you with the process.

Use wood dowels and use at LEAST 3 on each bb end. Remember to post pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Stan Smith]

Nice to see you on here, Jim. I have a similar question. I, too, am building a table top frame out of alder with bb ends, m&t's. Mine is a 4" frame that will be 50" long and about 17" wide also out of 3/4" alder. Within the frame, I plan to have a corian slab that will sit in a 1/2" rabbet on the inside of the frame. I guess it will have a support stretcher between the aprons in the middle. Is this design sound for a hallway table? The ends and aprons are made of madrone. Thanks.

Stan

[Jim DeLaney]

[QUOTEam building a table top frame out of alder with bb ends, m&t's. Mine is a 4" frame that will be 50" long and about 17" wide also out of 3/4" alder. Within the frame, I plan to have a corian slab that will sit in a 1/2" rabbet on the inside of the frame. I guess it will have a support stretcher between the aprons in the middle. Is this design sound for a hallway table? The ends and aprons are made of madrone [/QUOTE]

Stan, I can't quite envision a 'frame' with breadboard ends... I'm guessing that you're building an open rectangle with butt-jointed ends, using M&T for the butt joinery. Am I right?

If so, then the 4" rails may expand/contract an eighth inch or so with seasonal changes. I'd suggest that you pin the tenons (using dowels) on their inner edges (only) to that the expansion moves outwards. The corian insert won't move at all.

Is the corian going to just 'rest' in the rabbet, or are you going to glue/screw it in? My vote would be to just let gravity do the work. It's not going to warp, and it'll be heavy enough to lay snugly in place without fasteners.

Post a pic of the table when you're done. It sounds interesting.

<Center><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS" COLOR="Blue">Jim D.</FONT></Center>
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[Stan Smith]

I'm guessing that you're building an open rectangle with butt-jointed ends, using M&T for the butt joinery. Am I right?

Yep, you got it, Jim.

I'd suggest that you pin the tenons (using dowels) on their inner edges (only) to that the expansion moves outwards.

Not quite seeing it. Do the dowels go all the way through the m&t joint?

Is the corian going to just 'rest' in the rabbet, or are you going to glue/screw it in? My vote would be to just let gravity do the work.
Yep. it will just float on the rabbet. What is a good finish for corian?

[Jim DeLaney]

...Not quite seeing it. Do the dowels go all the way through the m&t joint?...

...What is a good finish for corian?

The dowels can go all the way through, but don't have to. If you don't want them to show, then drill from below - go thru the bottom, the tenon, and partway thru the top portion of the end piece, then insert your dowel and sand it flush. Unless they crawl under the table (or you tell them about it), nobody will ever know the dowels are there.

As for finishing the corian - it's already finished. Just buff it and wax it. What color is the corian, BTW? They make so many nice colors and textures, now.

<Center><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS" COLOR="Blue">Jim D.</FONT></Center>
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[Stan Smith]

Another dumb question. I'm thinking that the purposed of the dowel is to allow for movement. Does the joint still get glued then? I already glued up the ends but not the stretchers.

Don't know what color the corian will be. I heard that you cannot buy corian retail unless you are a certified installer (which I am not). I'm hoping that the place that I bought a piece from last time will sell me some more. They don't let me order a specific color or pattern, but check their scraps for something that I can live with.

[Jim DeLaney]

Originally posted by Stan Smith
I'm thinking that the purposed of the dowel is to allow for movement. Does the joint still get glued then? I already glued up the ends but not the stretchers.

Since you've already done the glue-up, I wouldn't change it. You may well get lucky and not have any movement problems. What I would have done under the same circumstance is just glue in the dowel, and (maybe) the first inch of the tenon (around the dowel), and leave the rest of the joint dry.

With many (most?) of today's homes being climate controlled year-round, wood movement isn't the problem it used to be. When homes were 90% humidity in the Summer and 20% in the Winter, it was much more significant.

<Center><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS" COLOR="Blue">Jim D.</FONT></Center>
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[Ken Dolph]

Wax is unnecessary. You can sand and buff the Corian up to a mirror finish. I like a matte finish though - it looks more like stone that way. If you want to brighten the color on a matte finish, use diluted Turtle Wax 2000 Protectant.

Information on working with Corian is available FREE from the website below. This includes a booklet from duPont "How to work with Corian in the home workshop"

I hope this helps

Ken

[Stan Smith]

I'm getting an education here. I am using a plan from Woodsmith that I modified slightly. It does say to glue up the joints with the exception of the shelf and table top which are held in place with the Z type fastners. The humidity here is quite low most of the time. We live in a high desert climate. I can see some movement in the doors though. So far never a problem with any furniture either purchase or stuff I have made.

I guess I'll just really buff up that corian piece.

Thanks!

[Richard McComas]

Hi Dale, as the other have already said you on the right track and I agree with the dowels instead of screws.

Fine WoodWorking # 110 has an excellent article on breadboard ends. They recommend a "stub tenon" to go along with the mortise as shown in the picture.
<img src="http://www.fototime.com/FD8C08E58789AF3/standard.jpg" border=0>

[Stan Smith]

Thanks for posting the pic. Now that's some pretty fancy joinery.

[Dale Stillman]

Thanks Richard for the picture. That makes alot of sence(sp). Gives additional support. That mag. issue came out before I subscribed. Dale