Large walnut dining table from 3/4 boards

[Dan Hahr]

I've been tasked with building a dining table for a neighbor from some walnut that he had cut with his father many years ago. There is some very nice boards in the lot, but unfortunately, they are all planed to just a bit over 3/4". I am trying to come up with a design that will look classy and light, and allow me to use minimal glue ups for the legs, trestle, or whatever. I think they are leaning towards a more traditional design, but they seem to be open to suggestions. I will need to try and avoid compound angles or curved joints as the budget is limited. Any ideas out there?

Thanks, Dan

[Jamie Buxton]

You don’t give any indication of the style you want, so construction suggestions are just a guess.
But here goes...
Make the table with a top, four legs near the top’s corners, and aprons connecting the legs. That’s all straightforward with 3/4 lumber. Make the legs as hollow tubes made from four boards. The edges of the boards are beveled at 45 degrees. This puts the glue lines at the corners, and they are unnoticeable. Your eye expects grain pattern changes at corners. If straight legs are too blocky for you, you taper the legs by tapering the four boards before you cut the bevels.

[William Chain]

In addition to Jamie's suggestion, and depending on the size of the table, you may want the look of a top thicker than 3/4 but not the cost. Could laminate the outer 2-3 inches of the table top to get the thicker look without the $$ and weight.

[Prashun Patel]

"Classy and light". In addn to Jamie's rec, you can consider a trestle table. Pop WWW did a great article on a Shaker trestle table. I made one (my work desk) and it's remarkably stable, despite being constructed completely from 4/4 stock. Granted, mine's closer to 1", but I think it'll do fine with 3/4".