I'm going to be building a table for our kitchen, and my wife and I both like the design shown in the pictures below. It's a trestle style, but a little more rustic than your typical trestle. Our will almost certainly be made out of walnut, and we'll be going for a live-edge style on the top. A local sawmill has a nice log they cut into 10/4-12/4 thick pieces, and I'm seriously thinking about taking that off their hands.
I haven't built a table like this before; I've built a few side tables, but nothing of this scope. So I've got some concerns (obviously), but mainly some questions.
Does anyone have a guess as to how far out those feet go? I doubt they stretch out as far as the top, but it's really hard to tell in the picture. What's a good rule of thumb for the length of those feet relative to the top?
I can easily see the one small stretcher between each leg piece; the main stretcher obviously connects into those. But I can't tell if there's a second small stretcher closer to the feet. It looks like something is there in the picture, but I can't tell if something is there or if that's part of the chair confusing me. Why might there need to be a second stretcher between those pieces?
I'm guessing the top of the legs has a standard trestle-style cross brace that connects to the top. Does anyone think there might be another long stretcher that runs between each set of legs, right below the top? I was wondering if another long stretcher might be needed for stability / to prevent racking. Plus does anyone think there might be another cross brace in the middle that's simply there to help keep the top flat? I realize this top has breadboard ends, so the presence of those might remove any need for a middle cross brace. With a slab-style top I don't expect to be doing a breadboard end on mine.
Finally, any guesses on the thickness of those leg, feet, and stretcher pieces? If that top is 6/4 then the long stretcher might be 8/4, but do you think those leg and feet pieces might be 10/4 square? That seems awfully thick, but then again they do have to hold up the table.
Thanks,
Steve
table1.jpgtable2.jpg