Round table question

[Ray Thompson]

I have to make a round table for the new house, and, having never made a round table before here are my thoughts.

Single pedestal, MDF or ply top with thick (1/4") veneer glued on.

Stable ?? Wood movement a killer???

BTW I hate MDF, the dust is really irritating.

Ray

[Ken Salisbury]

Why not a solid wood top Ray?

[Jamie Buxton]

In my experience, 1/4" wood veneer over ply or MDF is too thick. It is thick enough that it can bend the substrate when the humidity changes. I'd aim for 1/16" thick, and no more than 3/32".
And as for hating MDF, just don't use the stuff. MDF makes economic sense in a factory where a few pennies saved on each piece adds up, but the savings don't matter very much in your one-of-a-kind production. Furthermore, the screws that you'll probably use to connect the base to the top will hold much better in plywood than in MDF.

[Carl Eyman]

I echo Jamie's concern about 1/4" being too much and Ken's question about why not solid. We really need to know size. Single pedestal good up to a certain diameter and not so good above. My most successful round table (large) was about 4' diam. on an apron about 3" deep with legs at 4 corners.Top was 4/4 cypress.

[Jim Becker]

From a wood movement standpoint, I'll agree with the others that the 1/4" veneer will not work out well. If you must veneer the top, use veneer plywood or real veneer over a substrate of your choosing. But I believe you'll find a round top easier to make with solid stock. Depending on the diameter, you may want a thicker top to look right from a scale perspective. A sectioned thick edge band around a veneer top will not only be "fun" to build, but will also have some wood movement issues of its own.

The picture below is a 52" round teak table. The pedestal column is 8" in diameter for reference and the top is just shy of 2" thick. The Queen of the Table is a Senegal Parrot named Tosca and she approved of the work... :D

[Ray Thompson]

How about a solid cherry table with a three inch band of maple around the edge. 48" diameter with a leaf is what we are aiming for.

Ray

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

Even tho cherry and maple likely have similar 'properties', I'd be concerned about mixing them. Make the outer edge cherry as well...it'll still show up and set off the middle.

KC

[Carl Eyman]

How did you attach top to pedestal to allow for movement? It sure isa beaut. I take it it was made before teak prices peaked.

[Jim Becker]

Originally posted by Carl Eyman
How did you attach top to pedestal to allow for movement? It sure isa beaut. I take it it was made before teak prices peaked.

Ah, that's a very good question. The top was actually made in Viet Nam back in the 60s and belonged to my wife's parents. (CIA at the time) When we settled her mom's estate a few years ago, the table top had been leaning up against a wall in the house for many years, was cracked down the single joint in the middle and had other problems. So we completed "cracking" it in half so we could transport it back to PA for use in our home.

This 52" table top is made from two boards...actually two pieces of the same board joined side-by-side. The bottom is still rough-sawn and was originally worked with hand tools. It took a lot of work to strip off the old, gunky finish, but the wood beneath was really beautiful. Joining the two sections back together was even harder...they were not flat and were far too heavy to push across the jointer. So I made a sled for the table saw to "joint" the edges, actually removing about 1/4" from each side to get rid of a lot of "bad wood" in the process. The original joint was doweled with 1" dowels, but I only used glue for the new joint. Again, I had to carefully build a set of supports to keep things "level" during the glue-up to minimize the amount of work necessary to finish the joint afterward. It still took a lot of hand-planing, scraping and sanding to restore the top to a usable surface across the joint.

That pedestal was made from 8/4 Mahogany and is based on a design that appeared in American Woodworker several years ago--the Jarrah patio table project. I scaled it up slightly to fit this larger table. The three-point base was essential due to our undulating full-thickness brick floor. Anything with four legs is in deep trouble!

The screws that hold the top to the base ride in some elongated slots, but I've seen very little movement in the piece to date.

The finish is just Watco and wipe-on poly varnish on the top; the base is the same, but I used Mahogany-colored paste wood filler prior to the oil and varnish. I was totally amazed at the color match between the natural teak and the mahogany...they are indistinguishable. (I normally abhore polyurethane varnish, but it was appropriate for this eating table)

Now, if I can only find the time and energy to finish the six chairs based on George Nakashima's three-legged Mira charis...but a kitchen remodel is going to take priority this year. The chairs are started, but a lot of work still ensues.