Technique for prepping table tops

[Mike Cherry]

I have never made anything as large as I am preparing to do (other than my bench top). I'm not scared, just wondering what you folks do for large tops.

Whenever I glue up panels, I usually match joint the edges and glue up. Then I mill the board with the usual process of flattening the face, edge, opposite face, etc.

This has worked okay for me but for a computer desk sized top I don't think my current method will work. Should I mill the boards to identical thickness and glue all the boards at one time? I should mention this is all by hand no thickness planer.

For bonus points: I could use some tips on design regarding material thickness. I planned to use 8/4 material for the legs and such as I feel this looks stronger. Should the top also be 8/4? The desk my wife has requested has trestle style legs. Is it considered bad form to laminate lumber for the legs ( if I were to use 4/4 instead)?

I know that's a lot of questions, thanks for looking!

[Brian Holcombe]

Mike,

I would likely use 6/4 material, so it will finish out at about 1.25" thick which is good for a trestle table. 4/4 is a hair thin.

You could match plane, that should work to have every lay out as flat as possible. If for some reason it causes the ends to be turned up then you will want to adjust the joints so that the top lays flat.

Make certain that you orient the board so the grain is rising in the same direction, making them easier to plane.

I glue them up anymore without anything but edge jointing, so that I have the entire thickness if I need it. After the glue up I will joint one side then use it as a reference to thickness the top.

For tops I adjust the finished thickness, not to a specific dimension but so that once it cleans up it's finished. Very heavy stock removal almost always means the top is going to move around after you are finished.

[Mike Cherry]

Okay so it sounds like you don't touch the faces of the boards until you glue up? Also 6/4 sounds like a good compromise, should the legs be made from 6/4 as well or can I laminate the 4/4 stuff I have in my shop already for the legs. Does laminating stock for thicker stock look bad or is it personal preference?

[Pat Barry]

My experience is similar to Brian's although, if when using rough sawn stock, I find that a quick surface flattening on each board is desirable to ensure that the grain matching comes out the way you want it on the finished top. With the surface cleaned up you can lay out the boards for best grain and color matching before glueup.

[Robert Engel]

Should I mill the boards to identical thickness and glue all the boards at one time? I should mention this is all by hand no thickness planer.I don't think it will be worth it to get them *exactly* the same. If you're doing by hand, I would get one face flat and reference off those then plane to uniform thickness after glue up.


Should the top also be 8/4?That's seems awful thick to me unless you have a span over 60" or something. I think 5/4 is adequate and looks better for just about any table top. A bottom bevel will give the edge a lighter look.


Is it considered bad form to laminate lumber for the legs ( if I were to use 4/4 instead)?Absolutely not. Just be cognizant of matching grain as best you can.

[Andrew Hughes]

I also okay with laminating 4/4 for legs it's much harder to get a good look with flat sawn.You may have to flip the boards end for end to get the grain to flow.That creates a witness line as the wood grabs the light dark and light.
Rift sawn boards are more forgiving.

[Bob Glenn]

I just completed a trestle table for the kids. I milled all the boards for top to the same thickness, then milled a groove on each edge to be glued, stopping before each end. I inserted a spline in each joint to keep the board faces aligned with each other. After glue up, I used a card scraper to take down any minimal joint elevation. Plus one on making sure the grain runs all in the same direction.

[Mike Cherry]

Thanks for the input guys. Definitely had a bottom bevel planned for the top to lighten the look. I think I might actually log this build on the forums in a separate thread. Even if I mess up I'm sure I'll learn something from you guys input.

The lumber, while I normally enjoy using rough sawn, will likely be surfaced already. My hardwood dealer here told me it's not cost effective for him to get rough sawn because he usually has to surface it for his customers anyway. The couple times I have used rough sawn was a lot of fun. Used rough sawn alder on my teenage sons bedside table that he designed in an architectural design class in 9th grade. His eyes were wide open when we started revealing the grain underneath haha

[Brian Holcombe]

Okay so it sounds like you don't touch the faces of the boards until you glue up? Also 6/4 sounds like a good compromise, should the legs be made from 6/4 as well or can I laminate the 4/4 stuff I have in my shop already for the legs. Does laminating stock for thicker stock look bad or is it personal preference?

I'd stick with 8/4 for the legs. You can laminate, but better off using solid stock. If you can locate 1/4 sawn or rift sawn I would use that.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Mike

For panels, I flatten one side of each board, and then square the adjacent edges. This ensures that the glue up will create a coplanar panel.

You can do this with handplanes or a power jointer. Thicknessing is not required. Indeed, it has enabled table tops to be built where the underside has uneven boards.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mike Cherry]

Hi Mike

For panels, I flatten one side of each board, and then square the adjacent edges. This ensures that the glue up will create a coplanar panel.

You can do this with handplanes or a power jointer. Thicknessing is not required. Indeed, it has enabled table tops to be built where the underside has uneven boards.

Regards from Perth

Derek
Thanks for the input Derek. I'm curious, while we're on the subject, when would be a good time to use cauls? I imagine the boards need to be really close in thickness in order for cauls to be effective.

[Derek Cohen]

Mike, I always use cauls when I glue up the boards. This is mainly to align the edges of the flat sides so that minimal extra work is later required on that side. I also use cauls to store panels if they are left weeks or months.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mike Cherry]

Mike, I always use cauls when I glue up the boards. This is mainly to align the edges of the flat sides so that minimal extra work is later required on that side. I also use cauls to store panels if they are left weeks or months.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Sorry to be so dense, but if you only flatten one face wouldn't the cauls force the boards to shift? I love your website, do you have a link handy maybe of where you performed this operation? Sorry, I had to go to the er last night...apparently I've developed allergies to pecans��