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Shaker cherry trestle table with leaves

comments (1) October 16th, 2011 in Reader's Gallery

Chuck_Griffith Charles Griffith, member
thumbs up 8 users recommend
The basic table top is 72 x 36, ample space for six people. A leaf at both ends expands the length to 91, allowing for eight diners to sit comfortably.
1) The trestle is joined to the legs with bed bolts, which are pretty ugly. 2) To hide them, dovetail keys are installed so that 3) an ogee shaped end cap with dovetail slot can 4) slide down over the keys to appear as if a natural extension of the trestle.
A 4-legged table has aprons near either end, providing good support points for leaf struts. Not so with trestle tables. Here, metal brackets had to be made to hold the leaves, which also slide through spaces in the cross braces located about 12 in from either end.
The leaf struts needed to fit loosely enough in the brackets for easy installation, but they also had to fit tightly enough not to jiggle. The solution was to glue wedges that tuck within the brackets at just the right spot. Yokes for securing the leaves come from Horton Brasses. The inner edge of the leaves is coved to fit the rounded edges of the tabletop.
The basic table top is 72 x 36, ample space for six people. A leaf at both ends expands the length to 91, allowing for eight diners to sit comfortably. - CLICK TO ENLARGE

The basic table top is 72" x 36", ample space for six people. A leaf at both ends expands the length to 91", allowing for eight diners to sit comfortably.

Photo: Photo: self
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Cherry trestle table similar to a birdseye table I posted 4/21/09, except for the leaves. This table is 72" long, but it sometimes needs to be 90" long. Providing support for the leaves meant adding metal brackets that cannot be seen unless you crawl under the table.

The table was built during the very wet September 2011, pushing the cherry's moisture content to 13% and making the top about as wide as it will ever get. As a result, in these photos each side of the top sits proud of the breadboard ends by about 1/8". Calculations indicate annual movement of about 9/16" in Wellesley, MA where the table now resides. Hopefully the movement will balance properly year round.

For dining table durability, the top was finished with four brushed-on coats of urethane, followed by several coats of hand rubbed oil and varnish. Between coats, wet sanding with 600 paper and further burnishing with two grades of pumice made for a super smooth surface.


Design or Plan used: My own design - Charles Griffith Shaker To Fit
posted in: Reader's Gallery, table, cherry, shaker, oil, trestle, polyurethane
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Comments (1)

powderjones powderjones writes: Very nice Charles - I really like the way you solved the "ugly hardware" issue.
Posted: 1:06 pm on October 17th

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