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Thread: fan shaped table top expansion

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
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    fan shaped table top expansion

    I was talked out of this project a few years ago because of wood expansion concerns, but its still bugging me. I want to make a demi-lune tabletop, using wedges of solid wood in a fan configuration. The triangular sections would of course be wide on one end and narrow on the other. So I understand that the outer radius would expand a lot in a radial direction, the center with narrow ends would not. So at full expansion, the back edge would not be a straight line, but I am OK with that. If I account for this uneven expansion in the way the top is attached to the apron, will it work? Anything else I'm missing?

    I don't want to veneer a top. I have some walnut with a ribbon grain figure, that I think will look great this way.

  2. #2
    I certainly can't imagine why 1/2 a table would expand/contract more than a whole one..I have made tables the way you are contemplating. I just made sure the top/base connection had room for movement.
    Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning, the devil says, "oh crap she's up!"


    Tolerance is giving every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.

    "What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts are gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts will happen to man. All things are connected. " Chief Seattle Duwamish Tribe

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Thanks Michelle. It's the differential between the cumulative movement at the wide end of the wedges, vs the small movement at the narrow end that got negative feedback. I was advised that the pieces would come apart at the outside edge of the table.

  4. #4
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    That should work. As you say, the back edge will not always be straight, but if you allow for the movement you should be fine.

  5. #5
    yes, it seems it would be so..I did use hardwoods that had less penchant for expanding & contracting. I did make a slot and used metal z clips that could easily slide. Good luck.
    Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning, the devil says, "oh crap she's up!"


    Tolerance is giving every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.

    "What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts are gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts will happen to man. All things are connected. " Chief Seattle Duwamish Tribe

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