Table design questions (again)...

[Steve Wurster]

Use the design you show first here, and start cutting wood.

Don't overthink this. A 1.5" slab is plenty stiff enough. Make the top first and set it atop two sawhorses and try it out. You'll see.

From the man who got me to this point with this design.

I would like to make the top first, but I would have no place to put it while I work on the base. Well that's not completely true; I guess I could do it first, put it on sawhorses, and call it our kitchen table. The main reason I'm going to work on the base first is that the piece that will go down the middle of the top is wider than I can process. I *might* be getting access to some machinery that can process that, but the timeline / availability for that is unknown. In theory I could do it with a router sled, but getting that piece to the same thickness as the others seems like a chore.

[Gene Davis]

Get the project going. Use handplanes to true the top surface of that problem piece, and find a shop with a widebelt sander. A few passes with 24 grit ought to get you where you want to be.

I lived for a long time in a couple different small places, without access to the services one can have in a big metroplex. Fortunately for my woodworking activity, I am now in a place where I can go and get things done with CNC routers, widebelts, straightline rippers, and more.

And living with your tabletop bearing on sawhorses for a while will proof out your concept for size.

Google "Nakashima dining table" and choose "images" and you'll see a whole lot of different leg, trestle, and stretcher arrangements.

[Steve Wurster]

I'm not good with hand planes, and I'm probably not going to master them with just this project. lol

The mill that I bought the original pieces from has a wide planer with a shelix head, so I have that as an option. My in-laws also know a builder that will apparently bring equipment to the house for you to use. I don't know any of the details on that one however. I can process in-house everything but the middle piece, as that's about 20" wide. I wanted to split it down the middle and re-glue, but it will definitely look better if I don't do that. I might start some of the work on the top in the short term though.

I love the base on the Nakashima Conoid table. The Nakashima studio is only about 15 minutes from my house.

[Gene Davis]

I studied the Nakashima conoid design, and did a workup of it in Sketchup. The models, a large one and a more modest one, are in one file up on the 3D Warehouse. If you have and know Sketchup, download and have a look.

Here are a couple xray views of the large model with the joinery workup. All connections in the trestle arrangement are housed bridle joints.

[Brian Holcombe]

is the OP planning a top with breadboard ends or a live edge top?

[Steve Wurster]

is the OP planning a top with breadboard ends or a live edge top?

Live edge, no breadboard.

[Brian Holcombe]

Excellent, the Conoid base is a nice choice for that. Nakashima's bases, if nothing else, are incredibly practical designs and I find them quite elegant.

They provide a good juxtaposition to the freeform live edges of the top slabs, in the same way that temple carpentry uses a live form major beam as a focal point in otherwise rational structure.

[Steve Wurster]

Excellent, the Conoid base is a nice choice for that. Nakashima's bases, if nothing else, are incredibly practical designs and I find them quite elegant.

They provide a good juxtaposition to the freeform live edges of the top slabs, in the same way that temple carpentry uses a live form major beam as a focal point in otherwise rational structure.

I don't know if I'm going with the Conoid base or not. I haven't passed that option by my wife yet. She really likes the base from my original picture. I'm also not fully sure if I have the material on-hand for the Conoid base (mainly due to the length of that base stretcher).

[Prashun Patel]

I agree now with genes earlier comment. If that's what she wants then do that. I think you will be fine with that design. We have a tendency to recommend the optimal when original will do just fine.

[Steve Wurster]

The wife doesn't like the Conoid base. Happy wife, happy life...

[Steve Wurster]

I'm going with the original design, but almost certainly with an additional stretcher on top for stability and to prevent any sagging concerns.

Thanks all!

[Brian Holcombe]

I know the group seems collectively ready to move forward

I propose you still have plenty of planning to do. Is this table ever, in it's life, needs to be moved then having a demountable stretcher is going to do a great service.

Add battens under the top, Nakashima has 5 under that table including the tops of the legs....he isnt over-engineering. Slab tables, especially those with figured grain will have a tendency to move in weird ways, battens help to mitigate that.

[Steve Wurster]

I know the group seems collectively ready to move forward

I propose you still have plenty of planning to do. Is this table ever, in it's life, needs to be moved then having a demountable stretcher is going to do a great service.

I don't expect to have to move the table anytime soon. But doesn't a removable stretcher imply through mortise-and-tenon, which I will not be going with? I didn't plan on attaching the stretcher with mechanical fasteners.

Add battens under the top, Nakashima has 5 under that table including the tops of the legs....he isnt over-engineering. Slab tables, especially those with figured grain will have a tendency to move in weird ways, battens help to mitigate that.

I thought about battens and will almost certainly go with them. Obviously the cleats will serve as battens, but another in the middle should be easy.

[Steve Wurster]

Design update for the group, now that I've actually gotten time to work on this again...

There was a comment before about the possible need for a removable stretcher if/when we decide to move. I brought this up to my wife, and she agreed on the need for it. She does like the look of some joints with tusk tenons, however I don't think a tusk tenon would work well in my design. The stretcher itself is only 2"x2", with the tenon obviously being smaller. That's not a lot of material left for holding a tusk tenon. Making the stretcher wider might address that issue, but then I increase the risk of banged-up knees and shins. And I'm not too sure how a tusk tenon would look with this design.

So instead I was thinking about using a dovetail lap joint to join the stretcher to the leg assemblies. I was planning on using this in the upper stretcher, and so I modified the design to include that on the lower stretcher as well. I included a picture of the updated overall base design, as well as a detailed look at the dovetail joint. Would this work if I used mechanical fasteners (i.e. screws) to hold the stretchers to the legs? Obviously I can hide the screws from view. Am I risking failure due to only using screws to hold the pieces together? Not sure how cleanly I could use bed bolts here.

Note that I also added a cleat / batten in the middle to help hold the top.

Advice and criticisms are more than welcome.