long dining table help

[Darren Chapman]

Hi all,

I am planning on building a dining room table as my next project. I would like it to have 4 legs and extend from 7 feet long to 9 feet long using a 2 foot leaf that goes in the middle of the table. I'm planning on it being about 48 inches wide.

I am concerned about sagging problems in a table this long that is cut in the middle so that it can extend. I'm interested in thoughts and ideas about what type of sliding mechanism to use that will allow a middle leaf and not let the table sag despite it being supported only by the four corner legs.

I appreciate all of your input!

Thank you,
Darren Chapman

[Jamie Buxton]

Check out the metal slides from Moin Hardware --- www.tableslides.com.

[Darren Chapman]

Thank you. I took a look at that website. There's definitely some stuff in there I can use. I was hoping to do an all wood mechanism. I'm thinking I might make some slides out of hard maple. Not as strong as steel, but I wonder if that will do the trick...

[Wayne Lomman]

Darren, an all timber slide works well. It's what I have always done. You need to use a high strength timber to help keep the rail size reasonable. Make the inner rail smaller than the outer one. Run a groove in both meeting faces and insert blocks in one of them to make it slide. Put two cross rails on each half. The leaf will sit on two of these when not in use. Hope this helps a bit. Cheers

[Robert Engel]

Check out the video by Tommy Mac. He's got one on his website on there's an episode on Rough Cut.

I think this is your best option that doesn't involve a mechanism.

[Darren Chapman]

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions. I was unaware if the Tommy mac video. I'll check it out. We'll see, I might end up using metal slides...

[Stan Powers]

I would suggest adding a fifth leg in the center of the table. We have a table built in probably the 1930's that goes from about 4 ft to almost 12 feet with 4 leafs. The 5th leg is almost invisible and makes the table extremely stable