How to best attach a top to a table base

Brent Dowell

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I'm hoping I can get a reply to this question without a whole lot of smart aleck comments.

If you had a table top and a base that met like this, how would you attach the two?

My thought is to put a threaded insert into the table top, and a recessed slot on the support with a bolt and washer going through the support to allow for side to side wood movement.

Thanks in advance for your serious replies and help.

tabletop_attach.jpg
 
I like your idea, Brent. Another thought would be to attach a piece of metal angle to the inside of the cross piece and lag bolt through it into the top using elongated holes in the metal to accommodate movement.
 
It seems the big thing is to allow for lateral movement. I like the idea of a threaded insert over a lag bolt, but I think I might use some removable thread locker on the bolt to prevent it from backing out over time.

The cross piece is pretty beefy, so should be able to cut the slot and recess with a router easy enough.
 
I think the threaded insert idea should work, perhaps do a stationary hole in the middle of the support on each end, then oblong bolt slots on the outer ones.
 
Brent I used to have a maple butcher block top with a similar base. The way the manufacturer had set it up was to have 2 holes at each end that were wider than the bold. They used standard woodthread lags and washers.
If memory serves it was a 3/8 lag and washer. The hole was about 9/16 plus the appropriate countersink to hide the bolt head. This allowed the top to move and not split.
 
Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the suggestion and agree it would be interesting,

but I've gotten past the paralysis by analysis and am not really looking to change the design at this point, unless there is something totally faulty with it.

The parts are all cut, I just need to do the joinery and attach the top in a secure and expedient manner.
 
I don't think an insert has any more strength than a lag bolt. The insert would make me nervous. My dining room table is trestle style and is super heavy. The top is attached the way Rich 's table is.
 
The base is a big trestle, right? If the top is big, thick, and heavy, like you say it is, then why not rely on gravity? A couple cleats on the underside so it stays centered are all you'd need.

I built one five or six years ago, with a curly maple trestle, and a 1½" thick walnut top 26" wide, by 120" long. The trestle weighed about 100 pounds, and the top was closer to 200 pounds. It's been sitting in the client's dining room all this time, and hasn't moved.

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i was going to agree with 3 figure 8 table irons on each side, with longer attachment screws, but, if the table is as beefy as you say (the top being just this side of a short ton), and not being moved much, gravity would work out pretty good, and the best part of the deal would be, is that gravity is free. if you are worried about it moving, you could install decorative pegs to insert from the outer cleat, through the inner cleat, and into the cleat on the other side.
 
My favorite way of attaching a top is with pocket screws through the apron into the top. Then in the cross grain direction, I use a biscuit cutter to make a slot for the screw to move.
 
The base is a big trestle, right? If the top is big, thick, and heavy, like you say it is, then why not rely on gravity? A couple cleats on the underside so it stays centered are all you'd need.

I built one five or six years ago, with a curly maple trestle, and a 1½" thick walnut top 26" wide, by 120" long. The trestle weighed about 100 pounds, and the top was closer to 200 pounds. It's been sitting in the client's dining room all this time, and hasn't moved.

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Jim, I love those carved inserts, did you carve them prior to inserting them or after?
 
Jim, I love those carved inserts, did you carve them prior to inserting them or after?

Toni, I only wish I could carve like that! The client had a very talented friend who did the carving. The butterflies were carved after they were inserted, and the grape inset was carved and then inserted afterward. All the carved pieces are Koa wood the client had.
 
Toni, I only wish I could carve like that! The client had a very talented friend who did the carving. The butterflies were carved after they were inserted, and the grape inset was carved and then inserted afterward. All the carved pieces are Koa wood the client had.

In any case they look great! and the carving enhances the detail, I keep that idea for later.:):D
 
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