Trestle Table
Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Projects / Trestle Table
- This topic has 24 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 3 months ago by Steve Giles.
-
AuthorPosts
-
Looking good
I have some white pine boards I have been saving to build a trestle table. I made a viking coffee table about two years ago out of the white pine as a practice run. The table has stood up well.
I finished it with a cherry dye. Starting with a dilute solution, blotching was not a problem. But I did not put enough coats of the oil base acrylic finish on top of it so I plan on refinishing the top. The base looks good.
Please keep posting on your progress.29 May 2018 at 11:06 pm #548264I know this post is from a while ago but I would be interested in some pictures of how the top is secured on a knock-down table like this.
Like Andrew, I am curious about how the top is attached. From the postings, it seems that the top must add a lot of structural strength since, without the top, there is nothing holding the ends together except the stretcher at the bottom. But just attaching a top with buttons does not seem to add much structural strength and attaching it with much of anything else makes expansion and contraction of the top a problem. I would love to see how that problem is solved. Beautiful work!
24 December 2018 at 12:58 pm #554087Sorry it has taken me so long to reply, but I literally haven’t been on the site for several months.
The photo shows how the top is held on. As noted, trestle tables have an intrinsic design flaw, but this one is very stable. There is no chance of the top boards splitting since they are not glued together. I just tongue-and-grooved them with a Stanley 45 plough plane and butted them together (I was going for a ‘farmhouse table’ sort of look). Once some wax and muck gets into the joints between the boards they’ll soon disappear (the top joints look much better than the underneath ones you see in the photo).
BTW, this project has been sitting in my workshop unfinished all this time. I just recently got back to it.
Steve
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.4 January 2019 at 9:48 pm #554260Here are some pictures of the finished item. I’m quite happy with the way it turned out.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Steve Giles.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Steve Giles.
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.6 January 2019 at 3:53 pm #554288Hi Ed,
Thank you.
I used two types of oil based stain (‘oak’ and ‘pine’ colours) applied one day apart, followed by a coat of thinned-down linseed oil. I finished off by applying a good quality wax polish. It’s a very thin natural-looking finish which was very easy to apply.
Steve
6 January 2019 at 4:25 pm #554289That is a great looking table! I like the proportions. Might be a little cold for a picnic though!
Jim
6 January 2019 at 7:38 pm #554291Thanks, yes it’s getting down to -9*C here at night. Can’t wait for summer!
(Photo taken on its way from my workshop to the house BTW. That’s not its permanent home! lol)
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.