Folding table leg hinges and supports

[Charlie Plesums]

I delivered a solid walnut table with folding legs today. I used the extra heavy duty hinges from Rockler. The customer didn't want braces that would interfere with knees under the table, so everything is hidden inside the apron.

The good news is that the customer is happy with the appearance. The bad news is that we all admit that the table wiggles too much for four or more active kids to use for home schooling and craft projects.

Now we are looking for alternatives that have some bracing, but will minimize the knee bumping (avoid major diagonal braces at the corners). The card table hinges with braces I have seen don't look as sturdy as the heavy duty hinges I already have, and most of them have corner braces.

One solution is to replace the wooden legs with the traditional metal folding banquet table legs, such as these
http://images.rockler.com/rockler/images/13772.jpg
I expect that would be stable, but I don't think it would be very attractive. The ideal solution would be to find a similar hinge and locking mechanism that could be used with wooden legs. That would probably require a horizontal cross brace near the bottom of the legs at the ends of the table (that the kids will rest their feet on), but we are now willing to compromise. The catch is that I haven't found suitable hinges and braces for wooden legs in the catalogs or on the web.

Any suggestions or leads to finding suitable hinges/braces?

[Jamie Buxton]

Charlie --

I've never meet a table with commercial folding legs that wasn't uuuugly. If you want a base as pretty as that solid walnut top, maybe you should abandon the idea of using commercial legs. You could make a wood trestle base. They're not difficult to make, and they are sturdy. To make the base collapse for storage, don't glue the stretcher to the trestles. Instead, use wedges. I've built a side table like this, and it is nice and sturdy. You can completely disassemble the table without tools -- push the wedges out and everything comes apart. The small downside to this approach would be that the stowed table consists of a kit of parts -- the top, the trestles, the stretcher, and some wedges. That's not quite as convenient as the one-piece thing you get with commercial folding legs. However, in a home, the kit-of-parts approach should be acceptable. After all, many homes store loose leaves to expand a dining table.