Question on Breadboard Ends

Alex Reid

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Zushi, Japan
What is the minimum thickness you would work with when making breadboard ends for say a dining table? This is my first time to use them and I was planning on having 1" thickness on the table top but it got knocked down a couple millimeters due to cupped boards. I had to cut the boards in half then joint them but I still lost a bunch of thickenss.
 
alex, i`d say that you`re safe at 3/4".....that said i only use breadboards for decoration and rely on an apron to hold a top flat...tod
 
Thanks guys.

Todd, I'm not using them to keep the top flat. Mainly they are for style and now that I've cut the main boards to rough length I need the BB ends for length.

Stu, I thought about it but think I want to keep all the boards the same thickness.
 
Hey Alex,
If the joint is for aesthetics and not structure, you could make it quite thin. If its a dining table, and folk might lean down on the end, I would make the tenon as thick as I can. If you have 20mm left, an 8 or 10 mm tenon would be fine. If the table is not likely to be stressed, then I would favor the walls of the mortise. Its easy to crack the mortise walls when you are driving in the pegs. Chamfer the tips of the tenon to minimize the stress when you are fitting the board. And, of course, center pegs can be tight and glued, but end pegs need to float in an elongated whole to allow wood movement.
Looking forward to a pic.
 
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What is a "breadboard end" ?

Hey Frank,
If you have a table with your boards running the long way, then the ends will show end grain.:eek: :eek: If that bugs you, you can put a board going across the width of the end to hide the end grain. Have no idea why its called a bread board. Some folk think the bread board will keep the table flat, but its mostly just for looks.

The problem with breadboards is that the bread board is attached to the table top along the direction of wood movement, which can be large in a wide table. The table will grow and shrink, but the breadboard stays the same length, so they really only match nicely when first built, if then:rolleyes: .
 
Hey Frank,
If you have a table with your boards running the long way, then the ends will show end grain.:eek: :eek: If that bugs you, you can put a board going across the width of the end to hide the end grain.

Have no idea why its called a bread board.
QUOTE]

Jesse, when I grew up, (before the days of "Instant Everything",:rolleyes: EVERYONE had a Breadboard in their kitchen, and that was the way they were all made. Kind of like today most everyone has a Cutting board, (and most folks back then had one of those too of some fashion or other), but the Breadboard was usually about 2 feet square, and was ONLY used to roll out bread dough, pie crusts, etc. Glues weren't as good back then, and since a lot of the boards were washed regularly, the ends were "Pinned" and that was what kept them together when the glue failed. (I never saw anyone take them apart and reglue them).

Since that was how they were all made, I "Suspect" that the name just carried over from some point in time.
 
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