another project done at work

Nice, solid looking tables ! How are the breadboard ends attached ? Are those sliding dovetails or are they pinned ?

-- Dwight - "Free legal advice available - contact Dewey, Cheetam & Howe""

After butting heads about this with my boss….i was told to mortise the table and tennon the end….i dont agree with this, but hey…he signs my check. I hope (for the customers sake) that there will b minimal movement since most the material here is quater sawn

-- "...if america is any indication, i was born into one great big vacation...." RMB

I think the boss is right on this one, great looking tables customers should be real happy with outcome…BC

Very nice looking tables there! I wish I could do that at work ;). Being new at woodworking, I’m curious why the disagreement on the mortise and tenon joinery on the breadboard ends? Seasonal wood movement or strength of the joint (potential pushing down from people sitting on the ends)? What would you have gone with instead?

-- Loving the outdoors since 1981!

woodsyguy81 – the issue here is wood movement. The table will inevitably change dimension across its width (excluding the bb ends) as humidity and temperature change. The breadboad ends, however, are length wise across the table and wood does not change length (to any extent) with seasonal changes in humidity. If the changes in humidity are small, the stresses built up can be tolerated, but too much change and something must give (if the connections are all rigid).

The motise and tenon appproach is workable if only the m/t at/near the center are tight/glued, but those towards the sides of the table must have some side-to-side play to accommodate movement.

The usual approach I have seen is to glue the center and pin the m/t away from the center. A sliding dovetail is another way to go but I have found it a tricker joint to get right.

-- Dwight - "Free legal advice available - contact Dewey, Cheetam & Howe""

Nice Table. You are lucky that you get to do this stuff for a living. Out of curiosity, in a professional setting, roughly how many go into a piece like that ?

Great job Chet. Montecristo I would agree with u if the top boards where flat sawn and the expansion was going width ways. But as the boards where quarter saw, expansion should recur in thinness.

-- J Wrench Syracuse New York

nighttripper…..how many what? i think u missed a word there :)

wrench…u make a good point there my friend…..that being said, the top has en equall misxture of 1/4 sawn boards and flat cut…..i wish i could have regular access to this table to see what happens. ....my boss has full faith that everything will be fine with all the sealer we put on it…..im stil skeptical

-- "...if america is any indication, i was born into one great big vacation...." RMB

Cplant….the word I forgot was “hours.”

it was about 2 days i think….i was kinda bouncing back and forth between other projects, so hard to say for sure.

-- "...if america is any indication, i was born into one great big vacation...." RMB