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Thread: Legs for heavy desk / table top

  1. #1

    Legs for heavy desk / table top

    I'm building a relatively large live edge table / desk out of a slab of maple. The slab is 2 5/8" thick, 72" long, and 30-36" wide. It's heavy. I'd like to use a pair of cast iron legs, but am weighing my options based on stability and price.

    A set like these look nice, but I am a bit concerned with the top mounting allowing the top to rock forward and backwards. This is a desk, not a workbench, so perhaps I am just paranoid:

    'https://scranton.craigslist.org/atq/d/sweet-valley-antique-cast-iron-lathe/7254658970.html

    A set like these look like they'd offer more fore/aft support, assuming the center beam is strong enough (it appears very stout):

    https://www.etsy.com/listing/5298533...ial-table-legs

    These also appear to be a strong option. Of the 3, they appear to have the strongest design, but I wince at the price:

    https://www.etsy.com/listing/6571722...legs-diy-table

    Am I over thinking this, and would the first set actually provide reasonable support for a desk?
    Last edited by Lee Schierer; 01-14-2021 at 10:19 AM. Reason: removed direct link

  2. #2
    Doug, If you can get ahold of an old sewing table cheep you can use the cast legs without a problem. I work with stone and we had a customer come in with the legs of one and asked us to make a desk with marble top out of it. It was very heavy but sturdy in the end!
    Aiden
    "The key to a long life is when you start to die, don't"

  3. #3
    I've seen sewing machine legs available, in fact a pair came up this morning on my search:

    'https://www.ebay.com/itm/pair-of-CAST-IRON-INDUSTRIAL-LEGS-TABLE-BASE-STANDARD-27-3-4-high/

    It is good to hear they were strong enough, but they are a little delicate looking for the design I am after. I am looking for more of an industrial look. What were the dimensions of the table? Weight is not really my concern, but the additional moment from having more weight further from the support point. I'm not an engineer, and it has even been a while since I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express...
    Last edited by Lee Schierer; 01-14-2021 at 10:20 AM. Reason: direct links to that site not allowed

  4. #4
    It wasn't very large but marble is very heavy (the top was probably close to 100-150lbs). It really depend on the machine the legs came from. Some can be pretty frail looking and some are pretty beefy. Is the table to be mobile or stationary? If mobile depending on where you live you can get cast iron wheels from old farm equipment rather cheap that would look cool (mount on the axel). You also could use old steel pipe to form your legs?
    "The key to a long life is when you start to die, don't"

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
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    NE OH
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    That first set you link to have a roughly 8x8 mounting plate...that's pretty good I would think. Your top is thick enough you could use hefty fasteners. You could also add a black metal stringer down 6 or 8 inches running between the two legs sets; that would make it bullet-proof. Done well, it would look completely in keeping with the industrial base look.
    --I had my patience tested. I'm negative--

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    Mt Pleasant SC
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    Find some untreated 4x4s, plane down to 3 inches and paint black.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
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    Can you bolt it through the top?

  8. #8
    I'd like an uninterrupted surface on top. I already have a few other black pipe pieces in the house, including the speaker stands on my desk.

    I considered hairpin legs as well. They're relatively inexpensive and could be installed on all four corners, but IMO are a little low on character. However, I don't want the legs to steal the attention away from the wood, so clearly I am conflicted.

    I am sure the lathe legs would hold the desk up and not fall over, but I am just not sure whether their mounting plate would allow the desktop to rock forward and backwards.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
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    Think about how tall you'd like your table to be. Some of these leg sets, combined with a 2 5/8"-thick top, will make a table which is 31" tall. For me, that's too tall. I feel like a kid at the adults table. I like tables and desks which are more like 28" tall.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Fairbanks AK
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    Hello Doug. How long do you want it to last?

    I have an oak dining table that has been in my family for five generations now, my great great grandfather bought it as original furniture when he had saved up enough money as a wheat farmer to also build his family a wooden house so they could move out of the sod house he had dug into the side of a hill. My great grandmother, his daughter, said in my hearing multiple times she didn't mind carrying clean water into the house, but she was grateful for drainage (her favorite modern convenience) to carry dirty water out of the house.

    The trouble with the table I have is the metal connectors. The legs are turned oak with metal bolts sticking out of the top end. The table top is all oak (it is circa 1890 to 1900 +/-) joinery except for the embedded metal nuts that receive the bolts from the leg tops. With every humidity change the wood moves but the metal bits don't. The table first came to my mom's house about 1975 and it seemed kinda rickety then. It hasn't gotten more stable in the intervening 40 odd years.

    I am not sure how I am going to fix this one up, but I would encourage you, if you are committed to this design statement, to use the smallest metal fasteners you can now so your great great grandson can drill all those holes a bit wider and use something a little bit bigger to keep the piece in the family a little bit longer.

  11. #11
    The height is a very good point. I have seriously considered that. I built my current desk only 27" high to account for my chair that only brings the arms to that height. It has been fine, but all of these legs are higher than that even without the top, so I decided to replace the cylinder in my chair to give me more height and see if I think the chair is still comfortable. The arms are now at 31" and I like it even a bit more than when it was lower, though I don't think I really want to go much higher.

    I don't want to build junk that falls apart (hence the start of this thread) but this is a selfish build. I'd like to have it for the next couple decades. I think the next owner is more likely to be someone on Craigslist and not someone in my family.

    FWIW, I was planning to use threaded inserts as well.

  12. #12
    I was all ready to pick up the legs on CL, but the owner actually talked me out of the purchase after discussing my plans for them. Bolted through, I'd probably be okay, but otherwise it would likely be just too much weight cantilevered out over the relatively small purchase on top. Back to the drawing board.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
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    SCal
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    1,478
    Damn, amazing what you can find on Etsy
    Those Drake castings legs are spectacular...
    and while they do cost.... not such a bad price considering shipping is including...
    Not suggesting you use them on your project, but quite the find, thx for sharing
    I will prob. find some use for them in a future project...

  14. #14
    I picked up a set of cast legs on CL this past weekend. They are unique with a squared frame, but curved details near the top mounting plate and bottom legs. I plan to strip them of their old paint and melt on some beeswax.

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