Need some expertise. I just secured a big pile of white oak and am working on workbench designs, but have a question.
I notice that many of the workbench designs I see have dovetailed corners where the breadboard meets the long aprons. Two questions:
1. Why does this joint need to be a dovetail?
2. Is this dovetail glued or freefloating? If it is glued, then how does the design allow for expansion of the table top…wouldn’t significant expansion bust it apart? I see that most of the designs allow for elongated lag screw holes through the breadboard to allow for movement, but if the corners are glued, then what’s the point?
Thanks all
Replies
Scag,
Aha! I wanted to ask these questions when I was building my bench, but I never did. Go for it!
--jonnieboy
I didn't use a dovetail. I used a large box joint. Plenty of glue surface. My top expansion all goes to one side of the table. I used a floating mortice and elongated lags holes to fasten. My garage is my shop so it sees the changes in humidity. You can see how much it moves by the season.
If I was to guess the reason, I would say the joint holds the apron perpendicular to the adjacent side and the lag screws just keep the mortice joint together for shear action.
Magnus
"Remember, a bad carpenter always blames his tools" -Joe Conti-
If you dovetail the front AND back aprons into the end-caps, you have to allow the field to move which is why almost all of these designs make use of a tool well. If you have a solid top, only one end can be dovetailed to the end-caps and the other end needs to allow for the top slab to move.
I dovetailed mine & glued it. No issues in the several years since I built it.
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