Kevin Stockwell
11-16-2010, 1:37 PM
I have a 42" x 84" x 2" thick slab tabletop made of parota wood. I have a conventional tavern table base with aprons and stretchers that is made of walnut. I plan to use buttons to attach them, but have a few questions first.
The wood is fairly soft, "Like redwood heartwood" as somone has described it, and not great at holding screws. So I ordered some heavy duty 3/4" long threaded inserts from McMaster-Carr http://www.mcmaster.com/#90192a124/=9qdei6 (http://www.mcmaster.com/#90192a124/=9qdei6) for use with 1/4-20 capscrews that I have from my speaker-building projects. I was thinking of adding epoxy to the inserts before screwing them into the wood. What do you think?
I was going to use the buttons in the aprons to account for wood movement. Here is the question on that---if this slab is 42" wide, how much "growth" in width do I need to account for? I ask because my aprons are 1" thick walnut, in which I will route out a dado. Can i safely put a 1/2" deep dado in a 1" thick apron? If I do that, and have the lip of my button 1/4" in the dado, am I limiting myself to 1/2" total movement in width before the button bottoms out in the dado?
Any other suggestions or alternatives welcome.
Thanks
The wood is fairly soft, "Like redwood heartwood" as somone has described it, and not great at holding screws. So I ordered some heavy duty 3/4" long threaded inserts from McMaster-Carr http://www.mcmaster.com/#90192a124/=9qdei6 (http://www.mcmaster.com/#90192a124/=9qdei6) for use with 1/4-20 capscrews that I have from my speaker-building projects. I was thinking of adding epoxy to the inserts before screwing them into the wood. What do you think?
I was going to use the buttons in the aprons to account for wood movement. Here is the question on that---if this slab is 42" wide, how much "growth" in width do I need to account for? I ask because my aprons are 1" thick walnut, in which I will route out a dado. Can i safely put a 1/2" deep dado in a 1" thick apron? If I do that, and have the lip of my button 1/4" in the dado, am I limiting myself to 1/2" total movement in width before the button bottoms out in the dado?
Any other suggestions or alternatives welcome.
Thanks