Trestle Legs

[Scott Welty]

I've been asked to build a pair of trestle legs for an existing table top. The table will sit between two existing benches. Having not built this before of course I took the job! My idea is to make the pieces out of 3 layers of poplar (they intend to paint the final result). With the three layers I can leave out a 'piece' for for a mortise for the feet/post connection as well as the post top plate connection. I'd like to try for a through mortise for the stretcher with a wedge to hold fast. This way they can disassemble easily for installation and moving.

Standing by for any tips, suggestions, or TALK ME OUT OF IT!

SCOTTTrestle Legs 1a.jpgTrestle Legs 1b.jpg

[Jacob Reverb]

I have a nice trestle table that I'm sitting at now that my Dad made for me. On his, the spreader is closer to halfway up the height of the "benches." I use the table as a desk, and the spreader at that height is nice for occasionally elevating your legs to get the blood circulating when you lean back in your chair.

To fasten the top to the "benches" while allowing for seasonal movement of the top, he ran a kerf down each side of each "bench top" that engage pieces of ~ 16 ga. sheet metal pieces bent roughly into the shape of an "s" that were screwed to the underside of the top (these look pretty rawhide here, but you never see them when the table is in use, unless you're lying on the floor):



Also, be sure you make the taper of the wedges pretty small...they should almost "self tighten" through gravity with movement of the table. If the taper is too steep – such that you have to bang the wedges in – they are more prone to back out with movement of the table, and never get securely "tight." You also want to make the (vertical) wedges long enough that they help keep the "bench assemblies" parallel and square to the floor, by pinning the vertical members between the shoulders of the tenon on the spreader (on the inside), and the wedges themselves (on the outside). That way, even without the top attached, it's pretty hard to rack the legs and spreader out of plumb/square. (To get a really nice fit, you'll also want to taper the outboard edges of the mortises on the spreader to match the wedges.)

ETA: I see it looks like your wedges run horizontally. His are vertical (which should clarify my comments about them above). See photo below:



The whole thing makes for a very nice, sturdy table that you can knock down and move quickly and easily. I'm a big fan of trestle tables and intend to make another similar one out of QS white oak.

[Dave Richards]

Laminating the posts, feet and top pieces is certainly a way to go. It makes it creating the mortises in the feed and top pieces easy. One concern is that the glue lines may eventually show through the paint. You could get around that by making the laminations a feature. Make the center ply a bit taller than the sides, for example.

[Jim Becker]

The lamination method you propose is exactly the same way I've built a door and it greatly simplifies the deep mortise challenge.

[Patrick Varley]

I've been asked to build a pair of trestle legs for an existing table top. The table will sit between two existing benches. Having not built this before of course I took the job! My idea is to make the pieces out of 3 layers of poplar (they intend to paint the final result). With the three layers I can leave out a 'piece' for for a mortise for the feet/post connection as well as the post top plate connection. I'd like to try for a through mortise for the stretcher with a wedge to hold fast. This way they can disassemble easily for installation and moving.

Standing by for any tips, suggestions, or TALK ME OUT OF IT!

SCOTT

I've done this on trestle legs (picture). This was just two pieces of ash that were laminated together. I cut a matching rabbet in each half that when laminated together formed the mortise. Been about three years and it sits in a house that has a lot of humidity fluctuation and still haven't got any issue on the seams.

trestle legs.jpg

[Prashun Patel]

Another way to do that wedge on the stretcher is to to it vertically.

[David Bassett]

...

ETA: I see it looks like your wedges run horizontally. His are vertical (which should clarify my comments about them above). See photo below:



The whole thing makes for a very nice, sturdy table that you can knock down and move quickly and easily. I'm a big fan of trestle tables and intend to make another similar one out of QS white oak.

If you go with the vertically wedged tenon, I just saw Will Myers on a rerun of an old Woodwright's Shop talking about the design of wedged tenons. He & Roy looked at the strength of Shaker-style, mostly decorative, wedged tenons versus the wedged tenon used on the Moravian knock-down workbench, ridiculously strong, that looks like this photo. They also demonstrated the various weak points and how to design for them.

I don't have a link to that show, but Will Myers did recently republish an article on the bench construction on his blog: Moravian Workbench

ETA: (Google is your friend. ) Found the episode where they explore strength of wedged Tenons: Season 36 Episode 5 from 10/14/2016.

[Jacob Reverb]

I don't have a link to that show, but Will Myers did recently republish an article on the bench construction on his blog: Moravian Workbench

Nice bench and execution. Between the longleaf YP and WO, that thing should be around for another 300 years.

[Tom Bain]

Scott — Have you done wedged mortise and tenons before? They are really cool and I think you should go for it, but it does require an angled mortise which can be a bit tricky. I hand chopped the ones I have done in the past, but I’m sure there are other ways to accomplish the task (e.g., hollow chisel mortiser). Might be worth practicing a couple before you move onto the actual piece.

-Tom

[Scott Welty]

Thanks to all! I've made some changes based on info here and looking through pics on the web.
1. moved stretcher up to about half way (not shown)
2. Wedges vertical....duh of course! - thanks
3. reduced the thickness of the vertical member so don't have to cut mortise in 4" thick stock.

Trestle Legs detail.jpg Trestle Legs detail 2.jpg

What does the group think about the size of the stretcher? I have it at 2-1/2" inches thick to allow room for the shoulders and then for the tapered hole in the tenon.
Also, I'm imaging cutting that tenon on the end of a pretty hefty pieced that is about 3' - 4' long. Tips?

Scott

[Jacob Reverb]

What does the group think about the size of the stretcher? I have it at 2-1/2" inches thick to allow room for the shoulders and then for the tapered hole in the tenon.

Sounds like it will work to me. For a sense of scale, the spreader in my pics above is 2-1/4" D x 3" H.

[Prashun Patel]

There was a PopWoodworking plan for this style table. That plan had the stretcher up against the top. I built this as my desk several years ago. The stretcher is about 5" tall and only 1" wide.

Also if it were me, I'd make the tusk 1/3 or less then width of the tenon.

[Hoang N Nguyen]

Here's how I did my very first legs with keyed mortise. https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....ble&highlight=

[Christian Hawkshaw]

Below is a link of a trestle table I built with laminated trestle components. So far, no problems.

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....-trestle-table