Table leg ideas sought

[Alan Turner]

I have a meeting with a couple on Sunday that I hope will turn into a coffee table commission. They think they want a "slab" table of cherry, and I have a slab of 8/4 that is 31-33" wide, and 5'-6" long. Three by five is what they suggested as a size. I am going to mock up a leg for them to look at, in poplar. It will be 4x4, with a turned foot, and a square taper down to the ball, with the transition accomplished with my favorite tool: the spokeshave. Through tenoned, and wedged, probably with ebony. I have both 4" walnut and 4" mahogany for the legs, if they like the idea.

The flattening of this slab will be a chore, and I will need help because of the weight. I do not have a 36" planer, but do have a 36" drum sander (used primarily for veneer), and so thought I would press it into service after starting the work with a scrub plane, etc. I will mount it on a piece of mdf, wedged, and try to get it close, and then flip it, and finish with a hand plane. Bet I have to sharpen the iron a few times with all of the abrasive grit that will be present.

I welcome comments on the leg idea, and would also welcome thoughts on the labor component of the bid.

Alan

[Todd Burch]

Alan, the leg idea is a tough one. You want something is a proportional to the top's massive size, but not too chunky since it will be short. How will the legs be attached with the design you propose?

How about this to stir some discussion?

[Brad Schafer]

unfortunately, i have nothing to add ... but I *am* interested in the outcome. plz post what you decide to do. good luck,

b (has a few slabs in the haymow waiting to turn into something)

[Jamie Buxton]

Alan --

There's a router-based scheme which flattens wide slabs quite quickly. You start with a flat reference surface larger than the slab -- a bench, a tablesaw top, or maybe a sheet of plywood resting on a flat bench. Lay the slab on the surface and wedge it so that it doesn't rock. Build a bridge long enough to cross the slab, with the "feet" of the bridge standing on the reference surface. The bridge is at least as wide as the base of your router, and has a slot running the length of it for the router bit to poke through. The tip of the bit reaches down to the surface of the slab. Run the router the length of the bridge, slide the bridge over, run it again, slide over, run, slide, run, slide, etc. You can quite quickly produce a flat surface with this technique. There will be some tooling marks left by the tip of the bit, but they come out with a sander.

The bridge should be stiff. I put tall edges on it to produce a U-shaped cross-section. Just remember to make the edges clear the handles on the router. I also fasten the "feet" on with screws, so that if today's slab is much taller or shorter than yesterday's, I can just cut feet with a different height and screw them on to the U-channel.


Jamie

[Michael Ballent]

Just tossing something out... How about a through tenon for the legs with a diagonal wedge/spline that would be visible from the top. Think morris chair arm. Then a 4 way taper for the actual legs. Just a thought.

-Michael

[Alan Turner]

Well, thanks to the help of my good friend Joe, The slab is flat. I cut up a piece of MDF, wedged it, and ran it through 36 grit drum sander till flat on one side; flipped it without the panel, and flattened the 2d side. This is a remarkable piece of cherry in that I needed to remove 1/2" of twist, and will still net 1.75" fully flat. I took the high corners off first with a scrub plane. It is much faster over small sections than the drum sander.

As to the legs, met with clients, and they favor a flat tapered leg, with a "ball" on the foot, slightly flattened in shape. A bit of an oval. I will use walnut, 4" by 6". Table will finish at 18 3/8" high. Any comments on that?

The legs will be through tenoned, and wedged. I am thinking that I wll do 3 or 4 tenons per leg, and am playing with the design as they will add a geometric element to the surface of the slab table. They need to be strong! Suggestions for a layout of multiple through tenons are invited. I played with 4 tenons, 1.25" square. Or 4 at 1.75 by 1", or 4 at 1.5" by .875". Or two, end to end, at 1.5 by 1, and one at 3.5 by 1, or something like that. Would read as a bit triangular, but I think that the corners fo all of the tenons definitley need ot be square. I am thinking that I will set the legs to start back from the ends (measured before the radius is taken off) about 8", and in from the sides about 4".

The table's long edges will retain the wane, and the ends will be radiused to where they pull back at the corners 3.25". Final dimensions of the top will be prox. 33" wide, by 60" long.

Any comment on whether I need a "stretcher" system? I could put in a loose tenon stretcher side to side, and am thinking of doing so since one of the requirements of this table is that it be suitable for regular "sitting" on by family and guests. I beleive this family does a fair amount of entertaining. This is a big heavy table. I would use the stretcher to carry the weight of a person sitting in the middle of the end. I wonder if this is necessary? I am about 3" from the center of the tree with this plank, so the ends are basically quarter sawn.
I wish I could draw on the computer and post a sketch, but alas I cannot.

Comments on this plan are invited.

[Mark Singer]

Alan,
I think you need strechers across the grain direction. In time it will deflect. You should you a connection that allows for movement since the table and strecher grain direction are oposite. Assemble the legs and strechers first if the tenons are mortised thru the top one leg to strecher will be a "sliding " unglued M&T joint. Leave a small gap for movement. Sounds like it will be a great table...

[Alan Turner]

Mark, I agree with the loose tenon thinking. Think I'll leave both sides loose so if one gets hung up, the other will slide. Might even wax the mortise a bit. The shrinkulator says it will move, in Pa (6%-12% MC) about 3/8". If I build the stretcher without a tenon, i.e., a full sized tenon without any shoulders, then when it moves there will be no gap. Probably use walnut faced hard maple for the strength of maple, and go with 2"x3" or so. I would be 17" long, plus the "tenon" length of 2 or so inches on each end. I could even run a couple of big, fat #18 screws uo through the stretcher in the center, maybe 3" apart, to help "control" any possible warpage, but I must say that this plank has been in my shop for 2 mos, and seems very stable. About the same amount of material was removed from both sides to flatten. Since I would use a stretcher for the ends, I might just use one for the long way also, which of course could be glued. This guy is so heavy, probably 100 lbs+ when done, that sliding it, and having a foot catch, would be a fair amount of racking force, plus when people sit, they tend to lean, etc. I would hate to have to rebuild this.

[Mark Singer]

Alan,
When I drill thru the strecher ,I make an oversized hole in the stretcher and capture the head of the screw in a large washer. That way you are not restricting the lateral movement.