I’ve started making my wife a dining table she’s wanted for a very long time.  I’ve never made a ding room table before, so I hope I’m doing it right.  I bought 8/4 walnut.  Even though I have a bench top jointer and a (cheap-o) bench top thickness planer, I had the mill mill them up for me for me.  All the material was flat, dry and square.  I just needed to cut to length.  
 

 

It took me 4 days to complete the glue up.  Then I cleaned and scrapped the excess glue off, and did a little light hand planing.  Then I began sanding from 80 grit up to 220.  I’ll be finishing with Arm-R-Seal semi-gloss finish.

 

 

The slab is looking good, Pauley. 

I added some tags to your post. Please feel free to add more. We like tags. They make it much easier to navigate to information. 

I thought about doing bread board ends, but we like the look of it not having them.  I’m thinking of giving the top a 1/2 inch round over around the edges.  I found some legs online at a company called Bear Hollow Supply.  They actually make these cast aluminum legs right there.  The legs are 28 inches tall and have a 24 inch flat top where it mounts (bolts) to the table top.  The mounting holes are slotted to allow for wood movement, which I like.  
‘now this table top measures 42x72 inches.  The legs will be mounted 14 inches from each end.  The legs will be connected together with a cast pipe.  I’m hoping the center won’t sag!  I figured I’d have 44 inches between the legs with no support.  The walnut is 6/4 (after all,the milling).

 

 

Now, I’m thinking of doing a skirt on the under side of the table, but I’m not sure of (1) if I like it and (2) how to attach to the ends of the table (for wood movement).  If I decide to do it, I was thinking of glueing and a couple of hidden screws for the sides.  The ends I was thinking of only attaching it to the side skirts and just let it butt up against the ends of the table.  Here is a photo of a table I found that is similar to what I’m thinking of doing...I add more as I go along.  Any comments or criticism is much welcomed.

11 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

The slab is looking good, Pauley. 

I added some tags to your post. Please feel free to add more. We like tags. They make it much easier to navigate to information. 

Thanks Gene.  This is a huge learning process for me...I’ve never done anything so expensive before and it makes me very nervous.

That is one humdinger of a table going there. It is doubtful it will sag unless you plan on having a 300 pound center piece. Sag is not caused by the board unsupported at this length but by the weight on it. If unsupported length exceeded 5 feet yes maybe.

 

I tend to overbuild too. I like the extra apron mainly because it makes the top look thicker.

Edited April 24, 20215 yr by Gerald

Just now, Gerald said:

That is one humdinger of a table going there. It is doubtful it will sag unless you plan on having a 300 pound center piece. Sag is not caused by the board unsupported at this length but by the weight on it. If unsupported length exceeded 5 feet yes maybe.

Gerald I can not tell you how good that makes me feel!  I didn’t think it would, but to hear someone like you say it, makes me feel better.  I still have a ways to go, but will post updates as they come.

That’s looking very good Pauley. I really like the idea of the cast metal legs. I think the skirt will really dress it up. 
Paul

That is one beautiful table Pauley. Great job.

Very nice. If you're counting votes, I, too, like the look of the apron in that picture you posted.

FWIW, adding a skirt will increase  the stiffness (avoid sag).  Stiffness is proportional to the cube (^3) of thickness.   So if you double the width, you double the stiffness.  If you double the height, you increase the stiffness by a factor of 8.  I don't know if you need to be concerned, but "it couldn't hoyt."  And I like the look but if you do the ends compensate for lateral movement during humidity changes (same concern with breadboard ends).

Add another vote for the apron.

If the metal legs fasten with round holes, you might consider elongating them to slots to allow cross-grain movement.  I also think the skirts add an element that the eye/brain expects for a wood object.

Looking very good!

That is coming along beautifully.  Massive table.  I am with everyone else, a skirt would add to the overall look.

On 4/24/2021 at 10:27 AM, Masonsailor said:

That’s looking very good Pauley. I really like the idea of the cast metal legs. I think the skirt will really dress it up. 
Paul

I think I’m going to go with the skirt.  I agree with you.

23 hours ago, Al B said:

That is one beautiful table Pauley. Great job.

Thanks Al.

22 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Very nice. If you're counting votes, I, too, like the look of the apron in that picture you posted.

Thanks Fred.  I think that’s just what I’m going to do.

21 hours ago, kmealy said:

FWIW, adding a skirt will increase  the stiffness (avoid sag).  Stiffness is proportional to the cube (^3) of thickness.   So if you double the width, you double the stiffness.  If you double the height, you increase the stiffness by a factor of 8.  I don't know if you need to be concerned, but "it couldn't hoyt."  And I like the look but if you do the ends compensate for lateral movement during humidity changes (same concern with breadboard ends).

Thanks Kmealy.  I’ve decided to go with the skirt.