Help needed with stretcher attachment

[John Timberlake]

My daughter wants a dining table like this:

PB full table.jpg

I am concerned that the length (84") and height (30") of the table will cause problems getting through doors. She wants the stretchers like in the picture. Anyone have suggestions about how to put the stretchers on so they will come off when the legs are removed, but still be nice and tight for 100 years? The protruding pieces on the ends are the ends of the slides since the base of the table does not part in the middle. Thanks for any suggestions.

[Jim Becker]

How about dry tenons with lag bolts or other removable fasteners up through the tenons from the bottom? Also check out the "knock down" type hardware available "out there"...

Another idea is to put a half-lap dovetail on the bottom of the assembly and hold it together with some metal plates screwed on the underside.

[Lenny Baledge]

Wedged tennons. You could then knock it down anytime you needed to move it and then reassemble. A quick tap with a mallet and that baby will tighten up any day of the week or in this case any decade of the next century.

Plus, they look cool. Especially with a contrasting wood.

Here's a quick pic I found online. I don't particularly like the proportions on this one, but it shows how they work.



Lenny

[Jamie Buxton]

Like Jim said, KD connectors like http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=367 will work. Bed bolts will also do a similar job.

However, are you sure you want to do this? As pictured, no one can sit at the ends of the table. Heck, you can't even put a chair at the ends of the table. Shoving it under the table or pulling it out will make the chair's front legs collide with those underpinnings. This is a seriously impractical design feature.

I'd make the table without the stretchers -- either the short ones or the long one. The table would have the legs at the corners, the aprons connecting them, and the top. Make good joints between the legs and the aprons, and it will be a seriously strong table. It will also be more practical than the pictured design.

[John Timberlake]

Thanks for the suggestions. My daughter is set on having the stretchers, so elimiinating is not an option. The wedged tenons would work, but I am afraid to have them sticking outside the legs. They might get hit too often and damaged.

I also am concerned with the distance under the end of the table when in its smallest configuration. When the top slides out, the base does not move. So there will be no problem when the table is extended. Still working out the dimension of the end overhang to make it work better.

I am thinking about the knockdown hardware, but want to make sure it does not show from the outside. Another option is to do a small unglued tenon in the end strecthers with a pocket screw to hold it in place. Then a dovetail for the long strecther coming in from the bottom and a screw to keep it from coming out. Still open to ideas.

[Bert Johansen]

A bridle joint (terminated so it's really half of a bridle joint) at each end of the stretcher, with a lag bolt coming from below through a hidden counter-bored hole.