I'm going to be attempting to build a dining table for our house – my first time attempting something so large. I'm lucky to have a large haul of 2" thick honey locust lumber from a tree that came down on our property, currently drying, and the tree will get a new life as the centerpiece of our kitchen / dining area. We have a handful of young kids, and this table will be the workhouse of the house: meals, homework, art, etc. We have an "english country home" decor style, which is in the vein of American farmhouse style, but a little lighter. I tried to design a table that's simple, durable, and large, but not excessively heavy or over-engineered.
I've sketched out some simple designs (see below), and would appreciate your feedback on both the visual appearance and the construction. I'm planning to use the following:
- 108" x 40" x 1.5" tabletop, to fit 4 chairs comfortably on each side.
- Legs are 3.25" x 3.25" at the top, and after 7.5" they begin to taper on the two interior sides down to 2.5" x 2.5" at the bottom. The lines in the drawings that separate the top from the bottom are an artifact of the software I used; in reality they'll be one solid piece.
- Aprons are 3.5" x 1" and set back 1/16" from the legs to create a little reveal
- I'm planning to oil the top, and paint the base (legs + apron).
- Need advice on apron-to-leg joinery; I'd use glued M&T, but I'm worried I won't be able to fit the table through the kitchen door if I can't disassemble it.
- I'm planning to use something like Z clips for attaching the top
- Do I need any additional support for the tabletop? Additional stretchers, or anything like that?
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