solid oak pedestal walls or plywood?

allen levine

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help please. someone with experience or knowledge.
This is a rough, very rough not to size sketch, from top view, birds eye view of the pedestal style base IM making for my 2 inch thick oak top.
There will be 4 3x3x28 posts, one on each end, 2 in middle with a shorter one sandwiched in so I can put a very hefty stretcher in the center to support the weight of the top.
The 3x3 posts are 4 boards glued up.
There will be 1.25-1.5 inch thick mahogany ends covering up the glueups on each end of each pedestal(2)
In the drawing, again, not to size at all, I indicated where the oak side laminated to the posts will be. Im beginning to think Im going to have movement problems with the mahogany end caps glued up on the solid oak with no room for the oak to expand or contract.
Will this present a huge problem? Should I just use white oak ply and make my life simple?
Im not changing the design, I spent alot of time cutting , milling and glueing up all these posts. I have to live with my design, but Im not sure about wood expansion and I dont want to have to create some type of breadboard end for the mahogany caps, too much work, much too heavy and clumsy a piece to work with for any precise joints like that.
Again, this sketch is rough and not to size, I hope someone understands what Im asking from my sketch.(the end caps of mahogany are labelled MAH in sketch)
there will be more open space than the sketch indicates, since the posts at each end are only 3 inches wide.

I didnt want to call anyone and disturb them today, so Id appreciate any help I can get here.

And please understand, I wont change the design, I sink or swim by how I design things, so I have to deal with what I did. Id prefer to use solid white oak sides for the pedestal base, but will compromise with plywood if it makes more sense.
 

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If I'm reading this correctly this is going to be a solid looking leg/pedestal with mahogany caps? I would use ply for the sides and put a quirk at the point the mahogany and plywood meet to take care of any unevenness due to expansion and contraction of the wood. You could do a 1/16" x 1/16" or use a v-groove bit.
 
IM not understanding what youre saying, but Im not that concerned about the mahogany, Im more concerned if I used solid oak walls and then glueing the mahogany onto the ends. what is a quirk?
 
Allen,
With the oak portion being only 4½" wide, it shouldn't move much - if at all - seasonally. I'd just go ahead with your plan and do the glue-up.
 
I agree with Jim. With the size you're dealing with, you're not going to have enough movement to worry about. I've done much bigger solid wood pedestals with solid wood caps and had no issues.
 
thanx, Ill continue the wood milling tomorrow, all the posts are glued up and will be sized correctly tomorrow. Then Ill start the walls of the pedestal, and then on to the stretcher and top.
gonna see if that festool saw glides along with that 3 inch oak like the guy on the video. Got me alot of 3 inch oak to cut.
 
I thought best to delete it, cause even though it wasnt a religion thing, I didnt want to offend anyone. I mean, a jew making crosses?(the person who requested the crosses requested the bottom be extended more)
 

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WARNING:pOST CONTAINS GRAPHIC PICS:do not view if heart or stomach problems

sometimes ya just gotta laugh at it all.
I tell ya, Im not having a good time with this white oak this time.
shoulda just used plywood.eh.
I fought with the jointer since 2 pm, Im really not familiar with the mechanics of it all, even though it seems quite simple to me, and I ruined alot of pieces, seems I planed them on an angle.
I slowly and carefully adjusted everything, and seems I finally got back on track. I had to wax on wax off all the beds, this white oak is tough stuff.
I got spoiled working with mahogany so long.
I was looking over all the support pieces of the base I laminated together, making sure Im happy with it all before I continue, and figured, yeah, it will hold a 200 lb table.
I was taking pics of the base pieces, and told my daughter, Im going to climb and stand on it to make sure it will hold any weight.(Im a big boy)
So my wife walked over and picked up the camera, thought I was about to kill myself, guess she wanted to show the insurance company proof how I died.
I tried to give her my muscle man pose,(it turned out looking like Im constipated) or maybe the swan stance from Karate kid, since I had the head band on, but with my crew cut, and my double chin, its not a flattering picture.
Not at all. . Ya gotta have some fun or whats the sense of any of it.Sometimes woodworkers are just so serious.

the center stretcher will be longer, I just used the other laminated parts for the base to stand on.The entire base will be wrapped in 3/4 white oak and mahogany, none of these supports will be seen.the good thing is alot of the base parts were old white oak cabinets with dados and cuts in them, I was able to plane down and use all the cabinet parts instead of just tossing them. I never paid for any of those parts, the wood guy threw it in said if I ever wanted to trim it up or cut it down for smaller parts
 

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:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: Allen I figure if they can use good old pruce to hold up two story houses then those pillars of yours will hold up the statue of liberty. Its hard wood.:D

Great fun:thumb: You can say your table was tested in your lab to withstand in excess of 200lb and you have pictures to prove it.:rofl: Just dont let the customer ask for your certification certificate or calibration report.:rofl:
 
Im not sure if I can just glue a 28 inch wide panel(6 inch boards glued up) to the posts. Wont there be movement eventually? Im thinking I should have used plywood for the outer covering, but I really wanted the look and texture of real wood. Can I just sink some screws in oversized holes then cover the hole with contrasting colored wood plugs? will this take care of any movement problems?
 
Im not sure if I can just glue a 28 inch wide panel(6 inch boards glued up) to the posts. Wont there be movement eventually? ?

I wouldn't glue it. The movement over a 28 inch panel would be too much for the glue to hold. Either the panel will split, or the glue at the legs will let go.

Can I just sink some screws in oversized holes then cover the hole with contrasting colored wood plugs? will this take care of any movement problems?

That'd work, or if you don't want the contrast you could carefully grain match some face-grain plugs from the same wood.
 
thanx, I have clips for the tops dan, but this top is going to weigh in around 160 lbs, I think Im going to just use a few small modified simple L brackets to hold it in place. Im going to secure the center board of the top tightly, and maybe one bracket on each side to allow for movement, but to keep it all in place.IM trying not to get ahead of myself with this, I dont look foward to working with 10/4 white oak, 7 feet long, monsters to handle, plane and cut, and join.Havent even thought about lifting up the top when I get near the end.Gonna have to take naps in between edge and face jointing each 6 inch piece so I can lift them and keep working with them.
Im going to go with Jim and use face grain plugs on oversized holes. Ill cut out 3/4 holes, 1/4 inch, then use an oversized bit to drill all the way through, using a pan head style screw in the larger hole to allow for movement, then cut a plug and try my best to match up the grains.
I spent way too much time planing down white oak to drop the solid wood and go with a plywood outside.(and avoid another 100 bucks for a sheet of white oak veneered ply)
If Im not successful, Ill just buy the plywood. gonna take my time and give it a try next week.
IM gluing up the white oak panels in 12 inch sections,(not planed down to final thickness) let it sit a few days, then replane it down to size and glue up final panel size.
I think the wood is doing a cha cha every night in the garage with temps going batty and humidity changing 50 points a night.
 
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