Question about lowering table

[David Huston]

My wife had a table made when we built our house a few years ago and the height is too high. Have tried to contact the builder of the table but I think she has left the area. The top of the table is around 34 1/2 inches and just is not comfortable to eat at. I am looking for opinions on how to lower it. There are two pedestals that are attached to a piece of wood on top and then the table is bolted to the piece of wood. I was thinking about making a pass around them with a rabbet bit in my router to set the amount of material to remove and then somehow removing the rest of the waste. Any ideas are great. Here is a picture.
292051

[Jerry Miner]

A typical height for a dining table is about 30". I don't think you're going to be able to remove enough material (+/- 4 1/2") from the cross pieces. I think you're going to have to attack the legs. Maybe the top? Maybe the bottom?

Can you give us a pic of the whole leg?

[Dave Richards]

This might be an opportunity to build new pedestals for the table and re-purpose the existing ones.

[Pat Barry]

A typical height for a dining table is about 30". I don't think you're going to be able to remove enough material (+/- 4 1/2") from the cross pieces. I think you're going to have to attack the legs. Maybe the top? Maybe the bottom?

Can you give us a pic of the whole leg?
Yes - a picture of the entire piece and a picture of the entire leg. Also dimensions? What is the leg dimension (square) where it is attached. How far from the top of the leg to the point where it is past the upper detail. I'm thinking to cut the leg off at the point on the leg just where it is maximized on the taper. I just can't tell how much cutting that would entail. I'm guessing about 5 inches. If so, that would do it for you. 29 1/2" heigth. You could add in a 1/2 inch spacer if you desired to get to 30 inches

[johnny means]

I think your going the wrong way with this.

Here you go.


292071

[David Huston]

Ok, My original measurements were off a bit. The table is 32 1/2 inches tall not 34 1/2. The square top of the pedestals is about 2 1/2 inches tall. I havent gotten a chance to look at how the long board on top of the pedestals attaches. Will try to get all the junk off the table this weekend so I can take a look. Here are some more pictures.

[Keith Weber]

Hey David,

For comparative reference, my table is 30" high, too (but, it's an Ikea cheapie that is "good enough until I get the time to build a better one.") I'd take a tape measure to a furniture store and measure a bunch of tables if you're looking for an average height.

I'd start with the pedestals themselves. The upper, square part of the pedestal looks a little blocky IMO anyway. If it's 2-1/2" in height, I would say that you could lose 1-1/2" of that, leaving 1". I wouldn't take off any more than that. As far as technique, it would depend on what you have for tools. With the 2-1/2" height as a reference, I'm guessing that it's about 8" square. I have an industrial slider, so I'd just mount it to the crosscut fence and take half off in two passes, which would leave a smooth, square cut.

My next choice would be the bandsaw, using the fence (adjusted beforehand to the correct drift angle) set to remove the desired waste. The top is big enough, that you should be able to hold it flat against the fence for the cut.

My third choice would be the tablesaw. Using a crosscut sled, or a beefed-up jig on a miter gauge to make the cut on 4 sides, and then a handsaw to finish off the waste removal. A belt or disc sander would get rid of the nub in the middle. I would NOT recommend using the rip fence in the same manner as described above with the bandsaw. That would have kickback written all over it.

I mentioned not leaving less than 1" in height was for 2 reasons. The first was for structural reasons. It appears that the lengthwise board is attached to the top of the pedestals by screws from above. That board in turn is attached to the table top by what appears to be lag bolts. You'd want a full inch of height in the top of the pedestal to give the screws something to bite into. Don't forget to use a screw length that doesn't pop out through the pedestal's recess. The original screws might be too long now that you have removed some material. I'd recommend Spax screws with their course threads for their gripping power. You could always still put one long screw down the middle for added strength. The 2nd reason for the 1" is visual. I think that it would look good with an inch, but less than that, the proportions would look a little odd.

Finally, if you still wanted to remove a bit more height, I'd look at the lengthwise boards on top of the pedestals. They appear to be about an inch thick. It may be possible to run them through the planer to reduce the thickness of them. It all depends on whether or not their purpose is to prevent sag, or if it's just a method of attaching the pedestal legs to the table. If the top is solid wood, is thick enough, and the table top grain runs lengthwise, then it probably has enough strength that you could run the support boards through the planer down to half an inch or so. If the table top is substrate/veneer, has thin boards, or has cross-table grain, then those support boards are probably helping to prevent sag and I'd leave them alone. If you do plane them down, I wouldn't inset the lag screw heads like they are now. I'd plane the bottom of those boards so the recess depth of the holes gets reduced or removed.

Hope this helps!

Keith

[Keith Westfall]

Why not take the top and top board off and make a jig that goes across both leg tops, (and level both side) and mount your router on a plate set up, to take the top of the leg off.

Would be a bit fiddley, but should do it, I think, maybe, ok, not really sure....