Dining Table Top Thickness

[Dave Avery]

Good Morning,

I'm building a large dining table ~42 X 100". It's a modified trestle design using 12/4 cherry (ordered online and what was delivered was beautiful curly material - pics to come) for the support pieces.

My question relates to top thickness. 4/4 and 5/4 would look too delicate against the large support pieces. I'm thinking 6/4 would look about right.

How thick are the tops that you make?

Thanks and best regards. Dave.

[Martin Lutz]

Dave with a base of that heft I think 6/4 would be the best choice to keep the piece visually balanced. Unles your going for the big bulky look. Have you made a mock up? Where will it sit? in a formal room, casual room, what are the clients other pieces like, etc? How will you move it when made? These are some of the same questions I am asking as I have a large Walnut dining set to make to seat 16 - 20. I will be curiouis what you decide and your progress. Please keep us up to date. Also Where did you find your cherry?

[Greg Cole]

Agreed on thicker would be better given the size-proportion. At least 6/4 or edge band it to give the appearance of thickness but with a trestle style in mind, I'd just use thicker material for the top.
Ordering 12/4 cherry and receiving curly is a nice suprise in & of itself.... my luck seems to run differently.

Cheers.
Greg

[Scott Vigder]

I own a Stickley trestle table, and with two wings it is 96" and it's top is 6/4.

Needless to say we never rearrange furniture in the dining room .

[Jim Becker]

Proportion is very important. I'd definitely go thicker for a larger piece, especially when it's supported by somewhat "stout" material. 6/4 or even 8/4. Draw it out to scale and see which is more pleasing.

[Dave Avery]

Dave with a base of that heft I think 6/4 would be the best choice to keep the piece visually balanced. Unles your going for the big bulky look. Have you made a mock up? Where will it sit? in a formal room, casual room, what are the clients other pieces like, etc? How will you move it when made? These are some of the same questions I am asking as I have a large Walnut dining set to make to seat 16 - 20. I will be curiouis what you decide and your progress. Please keep us up to date. Also Where did you find your cherry?

Martin,

Thanks for your thoughts and questions. The top will be made of cherry edge-banded curly cherry veneer (over MDF) with a 1/2" cocobolo inlay. I plan to "build up" the veneered panels around the edge to match whatever thickness I decide to use for the edge banding. The top will be connected through the supports with threaded inserts and connector bolts from underneath so that it will be removable. The base and support mechanism will be similarly attached in a non-visible means.

The table will sit in a formal DR. The base pieces actually don't look as beefy as you might imagine - it's a good size room.

As far as the material, it's from Niagara Lumber. I almost felt guilty paying ~$6.00bf shipped to my door for material of such beauty....... I've had similar positive experiences ordering from them in the past - nice people and quality material.

Best. Dave.

[Dave Avery]

Proportion is very important. I'd definitely go thicker for a larger piece, especially when it's supported by somewhat "stout" material. 6/4 or even 8/4. Draw it out to scale and see which is more pleasing.

Good idea Jim - thanks. I actually use Excel sometimes for a quick and dirty visual - 10 pixels to the inch scale by changing the column and row sizes. I'm not sure why I didn't think of it. Hope you're well. Best. Dave.

[Jamie Buxton]

Dunno about your sources, but if I buy 6/4 lumber which is 100" long and plane it flat, it rarely nets more than an inch thick. If I want a finished top thickness of 1 1/2" in a table that long, I'd be buying 8/4 stock.

[Craig D Peltier]

Im building a 40x106 right now, the top is 6/4 ash planed down to 1.25. Legs are 3.5 x 3.5 blocks. I have built this table before and it looks good this way with these thicknesses.

[brad kellner]

1 3/4 thick top would look beautiful i think maybe with a beaded endge or a round over.

[Daniel McCurdy]

Good idea Jim - thanks. I actually use Excel sometimes for a quick and dirty visual - 10 pixels to the inch scale by changing the column and row sizes. I'm not sure why I didn't think of it. Hope you're well. Best. Dave.

Dave, I'm more of an intermediate level woodworker right now so I can't comment on the main topic directly, but I did feel like I may be able to offer something on the visual scale subject. I too used Excel in the same way, and I agree, it was more of a rough visual. I was later tipped off to Google SketchUp. If you haven't tried it yet, I HIGHLY recommend it! Takes a little getting used to, but learning curve is pretty quick. In no time, you could have that 12/4 trestle in there and then could fool around with seeing which thickness top appealed the most to you. What a great tool!

Here's a quick one thrown together with an 8/4 top.

[Dave Avery]

Dave, I'm more of an intermediate level woodworker right now so I can't comment on the main topic directly, but I did feel like I may be able to offer something on the visual scale subject. I too used Excel in the same way, and I agree, it was more of a rough visual. I was later tipped off to Google SketchUp. If you haven't tried it yet, I HIGHLY recommend it! Takes a little getting used to, but learning curve is pretty quick. In no time, you could have that 12/4 trestle in there and then could fool around with seeing which thickness top appealed the most to you. What a great tool!

Here's a quick one thrown together with an 8/4 top.

Thanks, Daniel, much appreciated

[Mike Cutler]

Dave

I am very interested in seeing how your table comes out.

I have two pieces of Padauk. One is 7'x3'x8/4,and the other is 9'x3'x8/4.
I'll be building a trestle style table this year, and I'd like to see how these thick tops look.

Good luck with the project.

[Tom Ruflin]

Dave, the visual impact will also depend on how you shape the edge of the table top. I think a bull nose or roundover edge will look thicker than a bevel edge. I built a small dinning table with a 1 1/4 inch thick top with a bevel and I think it looks good (it's also very comfortable to lean on when sitting), with a round over I think it would look to thick. See link http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=45111.