Trestle table design ideas

[Hoang N Nguyen]

Hey guys, the wife has been nagging me about building a dining table for some time now. She wants a trestle style table but everywhere I've looked, I seem to only find "old" style tables. I'm more of a modern contemporary guy and a trestle table isn't really my style. I told her I'll be willing to build one if I can find ideas on a trestle table with a more contemporary fill to it. So, I'm hoping you guys here can point me in the right direction as to where I may find such an idea. If you've built one before, please share pictures and ideas, tips and tricks you may have. This will be my first attempt at a table and I also plan to make the top myself as well. Thanks in advance for the help.

[Dave Richards]

http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-t...rn-appeal.aspx
Plans are available for this one [url=http://www.tauntonstore.com/contemporary-trestle-table-printed-plan-011287.html]here[/url and here.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/woodw...ect-plans.aspx
Plans here.

This is one I designed that another woodworker built. He's built at least two of them. Maybe it would give you an idea or two.

[Hoang N Nguyen]

http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-t...rn-appeal.aspx
Plans are available for this one [url=http://www.tauntonstore.com/contemporary-trestle-table-printed-plan-011287.html]here[/url and here.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/woodw...ect-plans.aspx
Plans here.

This is one I designed that another woodworker built. He's built at least two of them. Maybe it would give you an idea or two.

Thank you! I like the design in the first link and really like your design as well. The legs of your design really caught my eyes. We can I find plans or buy the plans for your design? Oh I also saw a couple of chair designs in your link as well. Do you have plans for those?

[Dave Richards]

Thank you.

Unfortunately I can't sell or give you the plan for the table I designed. It belongs to the woodworker for whom I designed it. He made it for his clients. As for the chairs, it depends. some of them have plans available but some don't. Let me know which ones you are thinking of.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Thank you! I like the design in the first link and really like your design as well. The legs of your design really caught my eyes. We can I find plans or buy the plans for your design? Oh I also saw a couple of chair designs in your link as well. Do you have plans for those?

I like Dave's table design as well. You may consider making the top look a bit stouter to go with the massive-looking bottom .. not make the top thicker but maybe you could add an apron that adds to the weight of the look of the top. ..Maybe angle it back severely or even try adding an apron matching the stretcher look with, kind of like, knobs at the corners. ..Just thinking out loud.

[Dave Richards]

I guess you can't see it but that top is thicker than it looks. I put a bevel on the underside to keep it looking lighter.

[Yonak Hawkins]

I guess you can't see it but that top is thicker than it looks. I put a bevel on the underside to keep it looking lighter.

Weight and balance are challenging and personal design issues, and especially so with tables where, if the top looks stouter than the bottom, the legs look spindly or, contrarily, if the legs are heavier, the top may look thin. It's a personal choice where everyone must decide what works well for them. I guess I tend toward meatier-looking tops.

Dave, I like your design ; that's why I chimed in. My personal choice would be to add an apron, but that's just me.

[Dave Richards]

Yonak, you are correct, of course. Personal choice plays a big part. I tried it with an apron but my client's client didn't like it. They didn't want a thick chunky top, either. I figured the apron would help me with attaching the top to the legs securely and still make allowance for seasonal dimension changes in the top. With the apron vetoed, I snuck in a thicker top but kept it looking thinner with the wide bevel on the underside. It worked out quite well and the client was pleased.

[Gene Davis]

Wood magazine had a plan for a contemporary trestle-based dining table recently, and I have attached a pic. They also did a plan for the chair and a hutch, prototyping all in cherry for your viewing enjoyment. You can see all three in the scan.

If you've a good library, you probably can borrow all three issues and have all three plans. Would be a great piece of work for your dining room. All eight pieces.

The hutch has a James Krenov look to me. Nice.

At 39 x 72, it is the right size for six. I recently made a trestle table larger than this, at 44 x 78. My guess is the one Dave R is showing is 39 x 72 or even narrower, maybe 36 wide. 36 is the smallest width I would use for a dining table.

[Dave Richards]

That reminded me of Thos. Moser's Edo dining table.

[Prashun Patel]

I suggest you Google 'trestle table' images. There's a million styles out there.

The thing to know about the trestle is that the upper (and possibly) lower stretcher positions need to be carefully considered. check out Chris Schwarz's PWW article about building a Shaker Trestle table. The trestle table is a genius architectural invention. Its spirit is minimal elements to create very stable structure. Just as it's possible to go overboard with butterfly inlays, so too do many trestle tables overdo the structure. To the trained eye, they look amateurish. This is not to say I'm a trained eye, just to say the trestle structure warrants a little research.

Aesthetically, (to me), what separates the modern from the traditional trestle styles is a) the ornamentation on the legs and b) the design of the top. Even an architecturally traditional trestle table design can be made modern by altering elements like the feet and top.

If you have not done a slab-style table, this may be a good chance to stretch those wings. A slab style table atop a trestle has a very modern (you didn't hear me say 'trendy') feel.

You should check out Don Kondra's slab table. IMHO, It's really a wonderful example of what tables can be.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...e-boards/page2

[Michael Kaplan]

eben blaney2.jpg Here's another contemporary idea. I second Chris Schwarz's article as well.

[Chris Friesen]

I'm a big fan of the simplicity and clean lines of the one Chris Schwarz did for Woodworking Magazine. I think it would fit in well with modern decor.
There's a writeup with free plans at http://www.popularwoodworking.com/ar...-trestle-table

American_Trestle_Table_Page_1_Image_0001.jpg
TrestleTableCover-6.jpg

[Brian Tymchak]

Here's another contemporary idea. I second Chris Schwarz's article as well.

Nice! I really like that.

[Hoang N Nguyen]

eben blaney2.jpg Here's another contemporary idea. I second Chris Schwarz's article as well.

I really like this one as well. You wouldn't happen to know if they have plans for this table would you?